MANILA, Philippines — As Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s visit comes to a close, Canberra announced its plan to provide the Philippine Coast Guard with equipment and training.
“We discussed today the ways in which we will enhance our cooperation — this includes Australia providing drone equipment training and other technology to strengthen your Coast Guard's maritime domain awareness and protection capabilities,” Wong said in a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo on Thursday.
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Australia is hoping to further expand cooperation with the Philippines in terms of maritime security space.
Wong announced a string of maritime cooperation initiatives in the Philippines, including providing assistance in the recent oil spill in Oriental Mindoro and a program focusing on women’s leadership in maritime security.
In photos: Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong paid a visit to the Philippine Coast Guard headquarters on Wednesday. Australia hopes to work more with the Philippines in the maritime security space @PhilstarNews ????: @dfat pic.twitter.com/JJ89u6VgAS
— Kaycee Valmonte (@kayceevalmonte) May 18, 2023
"The [PCG] is indeed grateful for all the assistance that Australia has given from vessel acquisition, maritime domain awareness, and other capability development programs, human resource development and other capacity building program, and most especially the sustainment of PCG vessels under the Marine Resources Initiative Program," Coast Guard Admiral Artemio Abu said in a separate statement on Thursday.
Talks on joint patrols, trilateral partnerships
The announcement comes amid tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where the PCG and Filipino fishers continuously face the prospect of harrassment by Chinese ships.
Australia is among the countries that has expressed “strong support” for the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal Award that invalidated China’s sweeping nine-dash claims over waters that included parts of Philippine territory.
In February, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles and Defense Senior Undersecretary Officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez Jr. said Canberra and Manila are exploring the possibility of conducting joint maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea.
“Our departments are discussing the best pathway to take this forward and we want to keep working with the Philippines on that,” Wong said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo said that they are planning to hold discussions on the possible modes of cooperation "in the very near future.” Previous statements from the Philippines and the US suggest that trilateral or multilateral exercises with Japan and Australia will be explored.
RELATED: Philippines, US to explore ‘trilateral modes of cooperation’ with Japan, Australia
What else was discussed?
Aside from defense and security partnerships, discussions also included:
- The announcement of a bigger official development assistance package to the Philippines worth around AUD89.9 million (over P3.34 billion) for programs focusing on economic growth, education, disaster and climate resillence, and peace and stability in Mindanao;
- Plans to engage in trading of “critical minerals”;
- Negotiations for a Work and Holiday Visa Arrangement, which is an Australian visa under subclass 462. The specific visa would allow Filipinos to have an “extended holiday” in Australia, which would allow them to work there temporarily to fund their vacation. This is a different from the work visa;
- The 6th Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting, which will be held in Australia in the last quarter of 2023. Participants will include officials from Manila and Canberra’s foreign affairs and trade departments;
- Both countries expressed support for each other’s candidacy to the United Nations Security Council, with the Philippines campaigning for a 2027 to 2028 term while Australia seeks a 2029 to 2030 candidature.