Small nations, shared threats: Philippines, Lithuania ink defense deal

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines signed a defense cooperation agreement with Lithuania on Monday, June 30, establishing a "strategic-level" partnership between two countries separated by thousands of miles but facing similar threats from global powers.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene signed the memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation during her four-day visit. This is the first official trip to the Philippines by a Lithuanian defense minister.

The agreement links two countries that have experienced varying degrees of pressure from China. Šakaliene was sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 after condemning human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Now, while in the Philippines, she warned of growing cooperation among authoritarian states, including Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.

Lithuania has also been a vocal supporter of the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute.

‘Groundbreaking’ agreement

The agreement, signed after bilateral meetings between both countries’ defense chiefs, is “groundbreaking in the sense that it will formalize our means to cooperate on a closer basis on a host of different things,” Teodoro said.

The deal allows both countries’ defense establishments to work together more closely, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity, defense industry collaboration, munitions production, hybrid threat response, and maritime security, according to a statement from the Department of National Defense.

Šakaliene said both sides had already identified specific areas of collaboration in the defense industry, including unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, explosives production, and maritime capabilities.

The agreement also enables intelligence sharing and military exchanges. Lithuania invited Filipino forces to join its "Amber Mist" cyber defense exercise this November.

Šakaliene added that discussions also included the potential exchange of classified information, support for Ukraine, and cooperation on national security-related migration issues.

"We welcome the possibility of deeper political and military dialogue, including mutual visits. We hope to host Philippines Department of National Defence delegation to Lithuania later this year, to deepen our dialogue and cooperation," she said.

Shared threats, common ground

Although geographically distant, Lithuania and the Philippines share similar maritime security concerns, Šakaliene said.

“We reaffirmed shared concerns over regional security, and one of the topics of common interest is maritime security, including challenges related to shadow fleets, Russian and Chinese that are operating in your waters and in our waters,” she said.

She warned that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea “are cooperating very efficiently, both supporting each other politically, financially, militarily.”

“We see one of the worst results of their cooperation in Ukraine, where Russia, working together with Iran, with North Korea, and with China, is annihilating a free and independent country in the middle of Europe,” she added.

Focus. Šakaliene also highlighted shared concerns about the security of critical undersea infrastructure, citing Lithuania’s recent experiences with mysterious cable cuts and infrastructure sabotage. She said Lithuania had developed new response protocols to address such threats and shared these with Teodoro.

She also condemned Chinese aggression toward Filipino fishermen, which she said should motivate like-minded nations to strengthen cooperation.

“We see these horrifying materials, videos, how they are threatening Filipino fishermen, how they are treating people who are simply making their living in their own waters... then I think it's very clear,” she said.

“If they work together to threaten us, then we must work together to defend ourselves and to send a very clear strategic message. We are not going to let ourselves be scared," she added.

Both defense chiefs also agreed to explore further cooperation in countering hybrid threats, disinformation, and in enhancing civil defense and societal resilience.

However, broader military eercises, such as joint drills, remain limited without additional legal agreements. “For broader military exercises, we need a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement,” Teodoro said. “Now let’s see where our cooperation will lead us.”

Small states, united response

The defense agreement reflects both countries’ belief that small nations must work together to face shared global challenges.

“We need to be together in spite of the fact that we are from different regions, because the threats and the threat actors are similar,” Teodoro said.

He called the visit a result of developing “extra-regional partnerships that smaller countries in particular, like the Philippines and Lithuania, need to build, because we see common threats, common challenges, not only of threat actors but also of situational considerations.”

Teodoro also emphasized that the Philippines could learn from Lithuania’s advances in defense technology and resilience strategies.

“There is one common threat that underlies our partnership: We must resist and insist on the proper application of international law — UNCLOS and other international norms — and resist any attempt to unilaterally redefine them,” he said.

He added that upholding international law is essential to protect “smaller countries who need the law to preserve our territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

The agreement builds on discussions between Teodoro and Šakaliene at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum held in Singapore on June 1.