MANILA, Aug 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The Philippines and Germany have agreed to
deepen military cooperation, their defence ministers said on Sunday, as
Manila pushes back after a series of confrontations with China.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Philippine counterpart
Gilberto Teodoro met in Manila and pledged to sign a defence cooperation
agreement by the end of the year.

Teodoro said the agreement would focus on "mutual understanding regarding
capabilities, training (and) exchange of information".

There have been escalating confrontations between Philippine and Chinese
vessels in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely
despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

"We collaborate because we have a shared vision of respect for the United
Nations Charter... and our desire to see a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific,"
Teodoro told a joint news conference with Pistorius in the Philippine
capital.

They vowed to build "long-lasting relations" between their armed forces and
flagged the possibility of Germany supplying military equipment to the
Philippines.

Manila has been seeking to boost defence ties in the Asia-Pacific region and
beyond in the face of China's increasing confidence in asserting its claims
over the South China Sea.

Pistorius is the first German defence minister to visit the Philippines.

Germany is one of the Philippines' oldest formal defence partners through a
1974 administrative agreement that includes the training of Filipino troops
in Germany.

Pistorius said security and stability between their respective regions were
interconnected and hoped the agreement would be signed "before the end of the
year, maybe already in October".

"The ministers strongly opposed any unilateral attempt to advance expansive
claims, especially through force or coercion," Pistorius and Teodoro said in
a joint statement.

Pistorius told reporters that Germany's engagements in the region "are not
directed against anybody".

He is expected to meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Monday, the
last day of his three-day visit.