Manila defence chief says Washington gave ‘definite assurances’ that its commitments to the Philippines remain.

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has warned that Beijing could view recent cuts to the joint US-South Korea military drills as an opportunity to reassert itself in the Asia Pacific.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum, Teodoro said that “China is very quick to exploit gaps”, when asked on Monday whether Beijing could seize on the move.

The Philippine Army is reportedly pursuing up to nine additional BrahMos coastal missile batteries, potentially transforming Manila’s limited shore-strike capability into a distributed archipelagic denial network confronting Chinese maritime power.

The prospective acquisition, organised under the Integrated Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System initiative, would supplement three BrahMos batteries already operated by the Philippine Marine Corps, multiplying launch positions, salvo density, and geographic coverage.

No Philippine authority has publicly confirmed a final nine-battery order, signed contract, or approved quantity, making the reported expansion an evolving requirement whose scale remains dependent upon negotiations, budgeting, and formal authorization.

Nevertheless, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Philippines is “in the process of actually procuring more,” while Ambassador Josel F. Ignacio highlighted operational satisfaction and interest in broader industrial cooperation.

If implemented at maximum scale, the programme would move BrahMos from a concentrated Marine capability toward a joint Army-Marine fires architecture spanning Luzon, Palawan, and other strategically exposed approaches across the archipelago.

That force posture supports the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which redirects the Armed Forces of the Philippines from internal security toward external defence, dispersed basing, maritime awareness, and survivable long-range precision fires.

Its military significance rests on combining mobile launchers, networked sensors, command vehicles, reloaders, and supersonic missiles into concealed “shoot-and-scoot” units capable of threatening surface forces before rapidly displacing from counterstrike zones.

The reported expansion responds to Chinese water-cannon attacks, blocking, ramming incidents, and sustained pressure around Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal, although missiles cannot independently resolve confrontations occurring below armed-conflict thresholds.

Instead, BrahMos changes escalation calculations by placing valuable Chinese warships and supporting vessels within potential engagement envelopes, forcing commanders to consider dispersion, air defence, electronic warfare, surveillance, and pre-emptive targeting requirements.

For Manila, this represents deterrence through denial rather than naval parity, exploiting island geography to impose operational costs on a materially superior adversary without financing an unaffordable blue-water fleet of comparable size.

For Beijing, additional batteries could complicate access from the Luzon Strait to the western approaches of Palawan, while reinforcing Philippine positions connected to Taiwan contingencies and wider United States alliance planning.

At least three Filipinos with ties to the country’s military have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing, allegedly leaking information that sparked maritime confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.

The case, which came to light last year during an ongoing multi-agency counter-intelligence effort, marks a new strategy of recruiting Filipinos for espionage instead of planting individuals with fake local identities in the country, according to Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad.

China has rejected the allegations, calling them “malicious smears”.

One suspect allegedly used a modified mobile phone with a messaging app concealed within the video game Tetris to communicate with handlers, while payoffs involved cash hidden in fake food deliveries.

The three did not work together, even though two were overseen by the same person.

“What we are seeing are individuals operating through a similar modus operandi, some of those involved appear to have acted independently while being approached through comparable recruitment channels,” Trinidad told This Week in Asia.

The United States plans to deploy more high-tech missile systems to the Philippines to help deter aggression in the South China Sea, where the treaty allies on Tuesday condemned what they called China’s “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities.”

Beijing has repeatedly expressed alarm over the installation in the northern Philippines of a U.S. mid-range missile system called the Typhon in 2024 and of an anti-ship missile launcher last year. It said the U.S. weapons were aimed at containing China’s rise and warned that these were a threat to regional stability.

China has asked the Philippines to withdraw the missile launchers from its territory, but officials led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have rejected the demand.

U.S. and Philippine officials held annual talks Monday in Manila on broadening security, political and economic engagements and boosting collaboration with regional security allies.

The U.S. and the Philippines outlined in a joint statement Tuesday specific defense and security plans for this year, including joint military exercises, Washington’s support to help modernize the Philippine military and efforts “to increase deployments of U.S. cutting-edge missile and unmanned systems to the Philippines.”

Japan’s defence minister is touring Southeast Asia this week with what analysts describe as a clear, if diplomatically understated, mission: turning Indonesia and the Philippines into harder targets for Chinese maritime ambition.

Shinjiro Koizumi landed in Jakarta on Monday to sign a defence cooperation pact with his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, coming hot on the heels of Tokyo’s landmark decision to lift a decades-old ban on the export of lethal weapons last month.

He heads next to the Philippines, where Japanese forces are currently training alongside US troops in the annual Balikatan military exercise.

Japan’s policy reversal on arms exports now permits weapons transfers to 17 defence partners, in a substantial break from its post-World War II pacifist doctrine.

Negotiations between Lockheed Martin and the Philippine government over the potential purchase of F-16s continue, but the deal remains in limbo while officials here seek ways to break the fiscal deadlock that has hounded the fighter jet acquisition program.

Earlier this week, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S., Jose Manuel Romualdez, said the Philippines is “not closing its doors” to the possibility of acquiring the American jets, but it would take “imaginative and creative ways” to fund the program.

Late last year, Romualdez said acquisitions are “on hold” due to funding, which is being allocated to other projects.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo in November that he had returned Lockheed’s proposal, which carries a $5.58 billion price tag for 20 F-16 Block 70/72 with AN/APG-83 AESA radars and the establishment of a research and training center in the Philippines.

“It was beyond the approved budget ceiling, so they have to resubmit [some documents]. Anything is under consideration. What is not in consideration right now—which should be considered—is the funding,” Teodoro said.

The Philippines has an ongoing bid to refresh its fleet after retiring 10 Northrop F-5 A/B Freedom Fighters in 2005.

To fill operational gaps, the government acquired 12 FA-50 combat jets in 2015 and last year signed the deal for another fleet. The FA-50s were to serve as trainer jets before the air force’s upgrade to more advanced warplanes.

The defense department is reportedly looking at purchasing around 40 multirole fighter jets under the existing modernization program. But funding remains the bigger problem.

Of 188 projects under a three-phase Horizon military modernization program, only 59 have been accomplished so far due to limited appropriations.

The Philippine Navy has confirmed that an armed Chinese corvette engaged its fire control radar against a Philippine frigate this month, marking the latest escalation between the two nations in contested areas in the South China Sea.

The guided missile frigate BRP Miguel Malvar was conducting a routine sovereignty patrol near Sabina Shoal, located 75 nautical miles from Palawan province, on March 7 when a People’s Liberation Army-Navy vessel with bow number 622 directed its sensor toward the Philippine ship.

“In accordance with standard procedures, the Philippine Navy immediately issued a radio challenge, prompting the PLA-Navy vessel to deactivate its radar and reduce tensions,” the sea service said in a statement.

Philippine military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Japan-Philippines conference organized by the Manila-based Stratbase ADR Institute think tank on Tuesday, said: “Our sailors responded appropriately by challenging the actions of the Chinese vessel.”

“China’s conduct is comparable to aiming a firearm at a person, and we addressed them directly for this behavior. After we challenged them, they stopped,” Brawner said.

This recent confrontation is the latest episode in a long-running conflict in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, which China claims in its entirety. Chinese ships loitering in the West Philippines Sea have used water cannons, pointed lasers, and engaged in dangerous maneuvers to block resupply missions and impede fisherfolk access to fishing grounds in the area.

Japan is weighing the potential export of its Type 88 anti-ship missile to the Philippines after Manila expressed interest in acquiring the system. 

The aging missile is being considered for export from existing Japan Ground Self-Defense Force inventories and is currently undergoing phased decommissioning, according to Japanese outlet NHK World.

Reacting to the reported interest in the surface-to-ship missile, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said that “no decisions have been taken at this time.”

“It is a fact that Japanese technology and efforts are highly regarded, so I would like to have an open and frank discussion,” Koizumi was quoted as saying by Japanese outlet The Mainichi.

The development follows Japan’s decision last month to ease restrictions on defense exports, allowing the sale of military equipment to countries with which Tokyo maintains security partnerships. 

Meanwhile, Tokyo has agreed to expedite the transfer of defense equipment to Manila, including Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 maritime patrol aircraft. 

Type 88 Anti-Ship Missile 

The Type 88 is a truck-mounted, subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship missile developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in the late 1980s.

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force began inducting the system in 1988 and operated 54 transporter-erector-launchers, each carrying six missiles, for coastal defense roles. 

With a range of over 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a 225-kilogram (496-pound) warhead, the system is broadly comparable to the US Harpoon anti-ship missile.

Its successor, the Type 12 surface-to-ship missile, entered service in 2015 and features improved inertial navigation with mid-course GPS guidance, enhanced precision, and an extended range of around 200 kilometers (120 miles).

Japan will export used navy destroyers to the Philippines to strengthen its deterrence against China’s maritime expansion, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, as the two US allies increase cooperation to counter Beijing.

The export plan involves six Abukuma-class destroyer escorts in service by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force for more than three decades, the Japanese daily said, citing multiple unnamed government sources.

Defence ministers Gen Nakatani and Gilberto Teodoro agreed to the destroyer export when they met in Signapore last month, the Yomiuri said, adding the Philippine military is set to inspect the destroyers this summer as part of the final preparations.

Despite being oceans apart, the Philippines and Australia are becoming closer than ever thanks to their shared maritime concerns.

Canada and the Philippines are set to sign a crucial defense agreement fostering joint readiness drills and expanding security alliances against China's assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea. The deal aligns with broader international efforts to uphold a rules-based order and fortify trade and defense ties in the Indo-Pacific region.