Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he’s open to a potential reciprocal military access agreement with Japan if it would protect the country’s fishermen and its maritime territory.
“I don’t see why we should not adopt it,” Marcos said, according to a transcript of his interview with reporters on his flight back on Sunday from a five-day official visit to Japan. The Philippines is studying if the potential pact will indeed help the country and won’t intensify tensions in the South China Sea.
“We have to be careful also because we do not want to appear provocative. That instead of calming the situation in the South China Sea, we would heighten it, right? That’s not what we want,” Marcos said.
