Press Releases
Japan-U.S.-Philippines Maritime Dialogue
On December 10, the Japan-U.S.-Philippines Maritime Dialogue was held in Tokyo for about 3 hours and half in the afternoon. From Japan, Mr. NAKAMURA Ryo, Assistant Minister/Director-General of Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chaired the dialogue with representatives from the National Security Secretariat, Ministry of Defense, and the Japan Coast Guard. From the U.S. side, Dr. Mira. Rapp-Hooper, Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director of the United States, attended the dialogue with representatives from the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Coast Guard. From the Philippines side, The Honorable Maria Theresa P. Lazaro, Undersecretary of Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines attended the dialogue with representatives, including from NSC, the Department of National Defense and Philippine Coast Guard. The overview is as follows.
- They welcomed the commencement of the first-ever Japan-U.S.- Philippines Maritime Dialogue, following the outcome of the trilateral summit in April this year. They confirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation among three countries as natural partners and maritime nations linked together by the Pacific Ocean.
- They exchanged views on the recent developments in the South China Sea and reaffirmed their opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force. Japan and the U.S. expressed their support for the Philippines’ consistent efforts toward a peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea and reiterated their strong expectation that the parties to the disputes would comply with the Arbitral Tribunal's award as to the disputes between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China regarding the South China Sea, thereby leading to peaceful settlement of disputes.
- They shared the view to further deepen maritime cooperation to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law.
- In the Dialogue, considering the current situation that the U.S.-Philippines and Japan-Philippines bilateral cooperation in the maritime domain has become even closer with the 3rd U.S.-Philippines Maritime Dialogue held in October and the 6th Meeting of the Japan-Philippines Maritime Dialogue held last week, respectively, they confirmed the practical cooperation that Japan, the U.S., and the Philippines are promoting bilaterally and concurred to continue and enhance the momentum of trilateral cooperation in the next year and beyond. From this point of view, Philippine proposed to host the second Maritime Dialogue next year, which was welcomed in the dialogue.
- On the sidelines of this dialogue, Director-General Nakamura will hold Japan - Philippines bilateral meeting with Undersecretary Lazaro, and they will continue further discussions on the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, including security.