TOKYO: The Philippines and Japan are committed to strengthening maritime security, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said on Thursday (May 28) during a visit to Tokyo, weeks after the two nations agreed to fast-track the transfer of navy destroyers.

The two countries’ shared grievances over Chinese maritime territorial claims have seen them draw increasingly close in recent years, with Tokyo supplying coast guard ships and radar systems.

They have also signed a reciprocal access deal allowing for the deployment of troops on each other’s territory, and this month, Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said he was aiming for the “early transfer” of Abukuma-class destroyers to the Philippines.

Marcos, speaking before the Japanese parliament during his four-day trip, said that “as maritime democracies, the Philippines and Japan are committed to strengthening maritime security and ensuring that our seas remain open, secure, and governed by rules, not by force”.

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His visit comes just weeks after Tokyo eased decades-old arms export rules in a major policy shift.

Ahead of the trip, Marcos told Japanese media that the Philippines was “very grateful for Japan’s continuing help and support in terms of our modernisation of our military”.

Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are due to meet later on Thursday, with the Philippine president telling media that security cooperation would be a “very important” part of their discussion.

“Japan and the Philippines have experienced the same difficulties in terms of coercive acts,” he said.

Japan and China are in territorial and economic disputes in the East China Sea, where coastguard ships from both sides routinely stage dangerous standoffs.

In the South China Sea, Beijing has deployed navy and coast guard vessels in a bid to bar the Philippines from strategically important reefs and islands, leading to a string of confrontations.

This year, Japan participated for the first time in annual US-Philippines military exercises.