ASEAN Beat

Australia-Philippines Military Ties in Focus With Patrol Vessels Deal

Recent Features

ASEAN Beat

Australia-Philippines Military Ties in Focus With Patrol Vessels Deal

The agreement would be the latest in a series of developments within the bilateral defense relationship.

Australia-Philippines Military Ties in Focus With Patrol Vessels Deal
Credit: Facebook/Presidential Communications Office of the Philippines

This week, an Australian firm confirmed that it would be helping build new patrol vessels for the navy of the Philippines. While some specifics are still unclear, the news nonetheless once again put the focus on the Australia-Philippine defense relationship, which has seen an uptick of activity over the past few years amid ongoing challenges.

As I have noted previously in these pages, Australia and the Philippines have long had a strong defense relationship, with ties including not just regular interactions like exchanges and exercises but capacity-building in areas ranging from maritime security to counterterrorism, assistance with respect to the peace process in the southern Philippines, and occasionally more advanced forms of training and assistance as Canberra is one of just two countries (the other being the United States) that has a formal visiting forces agreement with Manila.

[...]
Dreaming of a career in the Asia-Pacific?
Try The Diplomat's jobs board.
Find your Asia-Pacific job