Amid the tense situation in the South China Sea, the Philippines is continuously establishing security cooperation relations with like-minded countries, and on the 14th, it signed a defense cooperation agreement with Germany.
The Philippine Department of National Defense released a press release on the morning of the 15th stating that Philippine Defense Secretary Teodoro and German Defense Minister Pistorius signed the agreement in Berlin on the 14th.
The press release stated that during Pistorius' visit to the Philippines in August 2024, he agreed with Teodoro to formulate a framework to advance the bilateral defense partnership between the Philippines and Germany.
The Philippine Department of National Defense explained that the agreement signed on the 14th is based on the 1974 'Administrative Agreement on the Training of Philippine Military Personnel in Germany', expanding cooperation among the defense and military departments of the two countries to include areas such as cybersecurity, defense equipment and logistics, and United Nations peacekeeping operations.
After the signing of the agreement, both parties will also host the third Philippines-Germany Security and Defense Personnel Dialogue to review activities where cooperation can occur under the new defense cooperation agreement.
Although the press release did not name any country, the Philippines and China have long been embroiled in a territorial dispute over the South China Sea, with tensions rapidly escalating in recent years. The Philippines has repeatedly accused China of dangerous behavior such as ship collisions, spraying water cannons, and dropping incendiary devices on aircraft.
In response to China's assertive actions in the South China Sea, the Philippines has adopted a 'transparency of information' approach, continuously disclosing China's actions to the international community and expanding strategies such as international security cooperation as countermeasures.
Following the earlier signing of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the United States and Australia respectively, the Philippines signed a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan in July of last year, which is awaiting approval by the Japanese parliament. In April of this year, the Philippines signed a SOVFA with New Zealand.
Additionally, the Philippines recently announced that it has completed SOVFA negotiations with Canada, and the agreement is scheduled to be signed within the year.