PBBM set to attend ASEAN-Japan summit

PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. will leave for Tokyo on Friday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Commemorative Summit, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said yesterday.

Espiritu, in a briefing, said the President is also expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and attend the Asia Zero Emissions Community forum with Japan and Australia on the sidelines of the summit which also marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations.

He said a planned reciprocal access agreement between Philippine and Japanese forces, which is similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement between Manila and Washington, is not part of the agenda of the visit, but some business agreements may be signed during the trip.

Espiritu said the President’s attendance to the commemorative summit is important because Japan is one of ASEAN’s first dialogue partners and “one of the most dynamic (partners).”

He said the summit’s main objective is also to announce Japan “as a comprehensive strategic partner of ASEAN – a thing that was already confirmed during the last summit of ASEAN in Jakarta.”

Espiritu said the summit would also tackle a number of issues including security matters such as defense and transnational crime and mutual legal assistance, mutual economic activities and cultural and people-to-people activities.

He said cooperation activities of ASEAN through the years would also be reviewed and recent developments that have bearing on the regional group such as issues concerning the South China Sea, East China Sea, Myanmar, North Korea and other international developments would also be discussed.

Asked if the President would raise during the summit China’s latest acts of aggression in the West Philippine Sea, and its possible inclusion in the ASEAN-Japan statement, he said a “joint statement is not being negotiated by the leaders.”

He said it is likely that the incident would be mentioned since “they will be talking about international developments and regional developments, and among them are developments in the South China Sea and East China Sea.”

He said the content of a communiqué would depend on developments during negotiations