Japan to provide planes, ships for Philippines
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on September 6 agreed to provide two large-sized patrol ships and lend up to five used surveillance aircraft to the Philippines.
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During a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summits and related meetings in Vientiane, Abe and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to strengthen cooperation to ensure a peaceful solution to the East Sea dispute.
Earlier on August 18, the Philippines took delivery of the first of the 10 coastguard vessels from Japan through an official development assistance to beef up Manila’s maritime capabilities.
The vessels were built by the Japan Marine United Corp and funded by a US$158 million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Philippine Government contributed nearly US$3 million to the project, which is expected to be completed in 2018.
The above moves came following the July 12 ruling by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands, that completely rejected Beijing’s irrational “nine-dash line” claim in the East Sea.
