“Philippines wants robust defence partnership with India” 

New Delhi: The Philippines is eager to develop a robust defence ties with India and is looking forward to procuring military hardware from it. This was stated by the Filipino Foreign Secretary Enrique A Manalo in New Delhi on June 28, 2023. The statement has come amid concerns in Manila over China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the South China Sea.

Filipino foreign secretary is on a four-day visit to India, and is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tomorrow. 

Delivering a lecture at Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) in New Delhi, the visiting foreign secretary said his country has repeatedly challenged Chinese presence in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the Philippines in the South China sea and will continue to do so. 

In his speech, he described India as a key partner of the Philippines, which wants to expand the bilateral cooperation in areas of maritime security, cyber-terrorism, education, healthcare and climate technologies among others.

He said the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and China have been engaged to formulate a code of conduct (CoC) for the South China Sea. However, he appeared unsure about a positive outcome.

"We may not be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but we see the tunnel," he said.

The code is envisioned to prevent any military conflict in the South China Sea, a region that has overlapping territorial claims by China, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The defence and security ties between India and the Philippines are on an upswing. In January last year, the Philippines concluded a USD 375 million deal with India for the procurement of three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile.

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