TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan will export used navy destroyers to the Philippines to strengthen its deterrence towards China’s maritime enlargement, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, as the 2 U.S. allies enhance cooperation to counter Beijing.
The export plan entails six Abukuma-class destroyer escorts in service by the Japan Maritime Self-Protection Drive for greater than three a long time, the Japanese each day stated, citing a number of unnamed authorities sources.
Defence ministers Gen Nakatani and Gilberto Teodoro agreed to the destroyer export after they met in Singapore final month, the Yomiuri stated, including the Philippine navy is about to examine the destroyers this summer time as a part of the ultimate preparations.
A Japanese defence ministry spokesperson declined to touch upon the report. A Philippine navy spokesperson and China’s international ministry didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for remark.
Tokyo and Manila say they face challenges from Beijing’s more and more assertive strikes in waters together with the South China Sea for the Philippines and the East China Sea for Japan.
Bilateral navy cooperation has included joint workouts, a Japanese radar help package deal and a high-level strategic dialogue. Final yr they signed a reciprocal entry settlement, the primary such for Japan in Asia, permitting deployment of forces on one another’s soil.
To clear navy gear export restrictions for the destroyers underneath Japan’s pacifist mandates, Tokyo will deal with the set up of kit and communication techniques requested by Manila as a joint improvement venture, the Yomiuri stated.
The Abukuma-class destroyer escort, a comparatively small sort of destroyer with a 2,000-ton commonplace displacement, is operated by a crew of about 120 and is armed with anti-submarine and anti-ship missiles, torpedo tubes and weapons, based on a Japanese navy web site.
The Philippine Navy doesn’t have destroyers, solely frigates and corvettes, that are sometimes smaller and lighter-armed vessels.
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Further reporting by Karen Lema in Manila and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Modifying by William Mallard)
