Philippines’ Marcos in Tokyo to sign defence, infrastructure deals

TOKYO – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos will meet Japan’s prime minister today seeking to deepen ties, including with defence deals, in response to growing Chinese military pressure in the region.

Marcos’ trip comes a week after Manila announced a deal giving United States troops access to another four bases in the country, and with Japan and the Philippines already in talks on a key defence pact.

The so-called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) would allow the countries to deploy troops on each others’ territory for training and other operations.