MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino will visit Japan next week, with rows over China’s territorial ambitions likely on the agenda, his office said yesterday.
Aquino will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the one-day trip on June 24, in another move to deepen ties as the two nations have endured increasingly hostile disputes with China over rival maritime territorial claims.
The tensions will “likely” be a topic of discussion when the leaders meet, Aquino’s spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, said, although she did not want to give further details.
In a statement announcing the trip on Tuesday evening, the Philippine foreign ministry also indicated the China tensions would be discussed, while referring to a “strategic partnership” between the two nations.
Aquino will also deliver a speech on the Philippine government’s efforts to end a decades-long Islamic insurgency in the south of the country, as it seeks to implement a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed this year.
Japan hosted secret talks between Aquino and Milf leader Murad Ebrahim in 2011, which later became recognised as a key moment in igniting the peace push.
Japan and the Philippines, former World War II enemies, have been drawn closer in recent years as they have tackled their parallel disputes with China. AFP
