The Philippines is set to bolster its defense relations with Canada and New Zealand via defense pacts that will allow its forces to take part in larger and more complex military exercises.
Frances Mangosing of The Inquirer reported yesterday that talks between the Philippines and New Zealand over a visiting forces agreement (VFA) are now well advanced. According to the report, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. told the press last week that the negotiations, which began in Manila on January 23, could be concluded “within the first semester of the year.”
Once finalized, the VFA, which is similar to agreements that the Philippines has already struck with the United States, Australia, and Japan (though the latter awaits ratification by the Japanese parliament), will remove many of the bureaucratic hurdles involved in deploying Filipino and Canadian troops in each other’s countries. This will allow for more substantial military exercises and deeper defense cooperation.
The obvious spur to the agreement is a shared concern about China’s growing power and ambition. On the Philippine side, that has manifested in increasingly frequent and confrontational Chinese incursions into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, which has seen China Coast Guard vessels ram Philippine ships and douse them with high-pressure water cannons.
In New Zealand, where the National Party came to office in October 2023, there has been a marked souring of attitudes toward Beijing, with which Wellington has had generally good relations. Wellington has become an increasingly frequent critic of China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea, and has grown concerned about its influence in the Pacific writ large, as Foreign Minister Winston Peters noted in a speech in May. Last week, Teodoro described a possible VFA with New Zealand as “an important part of … both countries’ and multilateral countries’ initiatives to resist China’s unilateral narrative to change international law.”
Concerns about China’s growing power and ambition have also prompted the Philippines to pursue a similar VFA pact with Canada. On Friday, David Hartman, the country’s ambassador to the Philippines, announced that the two nations were “in the final stages of the negotiations of our status of forces visiting agreement that will enable us to have even more substantive participation in joint and multilateral training exercises and operations with the Philippines and allies here in the region.”
As the Associated Press reported, Hartman spoke before Philippine defense officials, foreign ambassadors, and defense attaches boarded the HMCS Ottawa, a Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate on a port visit to Manila.
Compared to New Zealand, Canada has also been more vocal in its criticisms of Chinese actions in Philippine-claimed parts of the South China Sea, which Hartman described on Friday as “provocative and unlawful.” In August of last year, Canada joined the U.S., Australia, and the Philippines in air and naval maneuvers in the vital waterway. The three nations said in a joint statement that they would “stand together to address common maritime challenges and underscore our shared dedication to upholding international law and the rules-based order.”
These embryonic agreements with New Zealand and Canada are the fruit of a concerted Philippine effort to broaden and deepen its defense partnerships among nations that share its concerns about China’s assertive behavior around the contested shoals and reefs of the western Pacific. This has naturally involved a heavy investment in the security relationship with the U.S., its long-time treaty ally. But given the erratic and uncertain nature of Washington’s direction under the second Trump administration, it is important for Manila to extend its circle of friends further outward. The Philippines is also in talks to establish a VFA with France.