Germany and the Philippines have agreed to enhance defence ties and boost joint activities as Manila builds up a range of alliances to strengthen its position in a longstanding dispute with China in the contested South China Sea.
Philippine defence secretary Gilberto Teodoro and German counterpart Boris Pistorius signed an “arrangement concerning defence cooperation” in Berlin on Wednesday, agreeing to expand cooperation to include cyber security, defence armament and logistics and United Nations peacekeeping, Manila’s defence ministry announced on Thursday.
The Philippines’ defence cooperation arrangement with Berlin adds to a growing list of defence deals beyond its traditional ally the United States.
Pistorius said in Manila last August that the “ruling remains valid, without any exceptions”.
In September last year, two German warships went on a rare transit in the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate Berlin’s commitment to freedom of navigation.