Marles vows tighter defence bonds with Philippines

Richard Marles has vowed to ramp up Australia’s military partnership with The Philippines as Manila warns of China’s increasingly ‘aggressive and illegal’ incursions into its maritime territory.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has vowed to ramp up Australia’s military partnership with The Philippines. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Richard Marles has vowed to ramp up Australia’s military partnership with The Philippines as Manila warns of China’s increasingly ­“aggressive and illegal” incursions into its maritime territory.

The Defence Minister and his Philippines counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, met in Canberra on Tuesday for their first official ­bilateral talks, agreeing to expand joint exercises and patrols in the South China Sea.

The meeting came just days after China underscored its claim to the contested Scarborough Shoal, which a UN tribunal has ruled illegitimate, publishing a new territorial baseline that included the disputed feature that is also claimed by The Philippines.

Mr Marles said Philippines personnel would participate for the first time next year in Australia’s biggest war games, Exercise Talisman Sabre, while an ADF engineering team would head to the The Philippines to help it expand its defence infrastructure.

“The whole tenor of our discussions of what we’ve announced today has very much been focused on building the opportunities to work more closely together, and that does include operational activities, like the maritime co-operation activities that we’ve undertaken in the last 12 months, but also the tempo of exercises,” he said.

Mr Teodoro said The Philippines were working to “steel up” its defences amid growing demands by Beijing for it to cede its territorial rights, and increasing “criminal activity” by Chinese ­nationals inside his country.

The Philippines and Australia faced “common threats”, and “we intend to coverage even further” in countering them together.

Australian naval warships have conducted four joint patrols with Philippines warships in support of the country’s territorial rights in the past year, including one that included US and Japanese ships.

Anthony Albanese and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed a new bilateral security partnership last year.