By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo
Reuters
TOKYO — The Japanese and Philippine leaders will agree this week on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to supply Manila with used military equipment, possibly including aircraft that could be deployed to patrol the disputed South China Sea, sources said. (see our breaking story
here)
The deal will mark the first time Japan has agreed to directly donate military equipment to another country, and is the latest example of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's more muscular security agenda.
The agreement in principle on military technology will be announced after Abe and President Benigno Aquino III meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila, said three sources in Tokyo who are familiar with the issue.
Abe and Aquino are due to meet on Wednesday (November 18).
It will commit Tokyo and Manila to discuss the type and scale of Japanese military aid, added the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
A Tokyo-based spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, which according to sources has been handling the agreement, said he had no information on the matter.
The Department of Foreign Affairs declined to comment, while Philippine military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
To allow Japan's first direct donation of military equipment, Japanese lawmakers will either have to tweak financial regulations that require officials to sell second-hand government-owned equipment at fair market value, or establish a financing mechanism outside overseas development aid, which can't be used for military purposes.
Japan's upper chamber of parliament early Saturday gave final approval
to a set of controversial bills allowing the country's military to
engage in overseas combat assignments — under certain circumstances —
for the first time since World War II. The lower chamber approved the
bills in July.
In June, Abe and Aquino agreed to begin talks on a visiting forces agreement that would open the way for Japan to use bases in the Philippines to refuel aircraft and resupply naval vessels.(Redacted)
