After signing separate defense deals with the United States and Japan, the Philippines is now also reviewing a proposed tripartite security pact with these countries amid tensions with China and concerns it could be pulled into a Taiwan conflict.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Kyodo News that the proposal was discussed with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his five-day visit to Tokyo, which ended Sunday.
He said such a pact could be “a central element to ... providing some sort of stability in the face of all these problems that we are seeing around us,” adding that it would also help strengthen trilateral ties in "confusing" and "dangerous" situations both in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.