President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Monday that he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to immediately finalize the discussion on the planned Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), stressing that the Philippines will continue to talk with other like-minded nations to resolve the issue in the South China Sea.
In a media interview prior to returning to the Philippines, the President was asked about specific timeline on the finalization of the RAA.
“I think both Prime Minister and I agree, asap lahat ito is – as soon as possible, yesterday, if not sooner,” he said as a response.
The RAA has been in the works for some time but both countries sharpened their focus as a result of the recent incidents in the West Philippine Sea, he said, noting that he is looking forward to having such arrangement not only with Japan, but also with other countries to give the Philippine big multiplier effect in terms of capability.
Such discussions, he said, become a very important part of these trips, saying that he approached other leaders during formal discussions to talk about security issues in the West Philippine Sea.
“This is one of the products of that. We also have the same kind of negotiations or discussions with many other countries. We’ll continue to do that para maraming tumutulong sa atin, sa problemang hinaharap natin sa South China Sea,” he noted.
The RAA is expected to greatly boost maritime cooperation between the two countries as the proposed RAA will facilitate the procedures and set guidelines when Philippine forces visit Japan for training and joint exercises, and vice versa.
Formal negotiations on the RAA were held in Tokyo on November 29-30 of this year, with the Philippine delegation being headed by the Department of National Defense, accompanied by negotiating teams from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice.
Asked to comment on the reported presence of an extraordinary number of Chinese vessels in Ayungin shoal, the President said that his government is very circumspect in its actions to avoid unintended results.
“Of course, we’re exerting all efforts now but it’s the… we have to be very careful that we do not overreact, that we do not make mistakes that might be misinterpreted by anyone,” he told reporters.
“Kailangan talaga maingat tayo dahil pag may nangyari ulit diyan… if we heightened the tensions, it won’t lead us to a good result. So we are being very circumspect in the actions that we will take.”
He also commented on how he feels about the China’s ambassador to the Philippines following the recent spat with the country’s Asian neighbor, saying that he thinks the Chinese envoy is just doing his job and part of that is echoing China’s narrative on the South China Sea.
Marcos said that the ambassador of China will always take the Chinese position but he said he would brush it off because what at issue is not personal but the Philippines’ interest in the region. |PND
