Japan to donate coast guard patrol boats to the Philippines

Japan will be donating an unspecified number of maritime patrol vessels to the Philippines, each costing $11 million, to help ramp up regional efforts in monitoring China’s maritime activity in disputed waters. These newly built patrol vessels will be handed over to the Philippines financed from the Japanese government’s fiscal 2013 budget starting in April.
Last month, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visited Manila and called for stronger ties with the Philippines to help ensure regional peace. Both countries are in separate territorial disputes with China – Japan’s dispute is over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkakus in Japan. The Philippines, on the other hand, is one of several Southeast Asian countries that are rowing with China over claims to parts of the South China Sea. Two of the hotspots are the Spratly islands and Scarborough Shoal.
The Japanese coastguard also has plans to help in training Philippine and Vietnamese military personnel as part of additional efforts to boost regional security and cooperation with Southeast Asia. In the fiscal 2013 budget draft, 2.5 billion yen has been allotted for such expenditures. Just last month, the Japanese coastguard said it would be creating a special unit made up of 10 new large patrol boats to increase its surveillance and visibility in the Senkaku islands. The dispute over the islands intensified in September when Tokyo
nationalized part of the chain, triggering a furious reaction in Beijing and huge anti-Japan demonstrations across China. As recently as last week, Japan revealed that a Chinese frigate locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese navy vessel on January 30. China has denied the accusation.