Japanese troops will set foot on Philippine soil for the first time since World War II to take part in the largest joint drills between the Philippines and the United States.
The Japan Self-Defense Force will send a big contingent to participate in this year’s Balikatan exercises following last year’s ratification of the Reciprocal Access Agreement, which allows easier deployment to each other’s territories for combat training and disaster response, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said Tuesday at a forum hosted by the Stratbase Institute.
“Eighty-one years later, this is the first time we will have Japanese combat troops again on Philippine soil. Before, we were on opposite sides. This time, we find ourselves on the same side,”
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.Ties between the Philippines and Japan have significantly improved over the past eight decades since the war. Tokyo is now one of the Philippines’ biggest aid donors, and the two countries are working more closely to strengthen their security ties in response to China’s increasing aggression. The Philippines and China remain at odds over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. Japan also has a territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, claimed by Beijing but administered by Tokyo.
The upcoming Balikatan exercise, tentatively set from late next month to early May, is expected to be one of the largest ever, even as Washington wages war in the Middle East. While the AFP has yet to release details of the drills—including the number of troops and assets involved—Brawner said he received assurances from United States Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Paparo Jr. that the exercises “will still be the biggest Balikatan exercise despite the war going on in the Middle East.”
Prior to this year’s Balikatan, Japan had only sent a handful of observers for humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercises. In recent years, however, it has deployed ships and aircraft for bilateral and multilateral maritime patrols, including last month, when it conducted drills for the first time alongside the Philippines and the United States in the South China Sea and northern waters facing Taiwan.
“With the participation of Japan, for instance, this will expand the scope of our defensive operations, because we are now working not only with the United States and Australia in preparing to defend the Philippine archipelago, but also our common areas. Our exercises will be broader, and we will be better able to prepare for any eventuality, whether man-made or natural. We are not just preparing for war—we are also preparing for disasters,” Brawner said.
The Philippines is also “very close” to signing a visiting forces agreement with France, he said, following the conclusion of formal negotiations last year. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. is currently in France for the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum.
“They’re going to try to push forward the VFA with France…We’re both eager. It’s just the process that we have to go through,” Brawner said.
France will also take part in this year’s Balikatan with the deployment of an amphibious helicopter carrier and a frigate, according to the French Navy’s earlier announcement of its 2026 Jeanne d’Arc five-month training mission. The French Embassy, however, told Naval News that the deployment has yet to be officially announced.
