Defence ministers for Australia and the Philippines have agreed to expand security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific between the two countries, amid growing regional tensions.
Richard Marles held talks in Canberra with Philippine National Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr on Tuesday, the first meeting between the two on Australian soil.
The pair agreed to bolster a defence agreement between the countries, which will see a memorandum of understanding updated in 2025.
Australia will also send defence engineers to the Philippines in early 2025 to help with infrastructure.
The meeting between the ministers comes days after China opposed moves by the Philippines to assert maritime borders in disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Mr Marles said Australia was looking at ways it could work more closely with the Philippines.
“We are working increasingly more closely with countries which share values and share a commitment to the global rules based order,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“As two countries, we have, over the last two years, been working increasingly closely, more closely together, on strategic affairs.”
Despite concern over what the re-election of US President Donald Trump would mean for the Indo-Pacific, Mr Teodoro said the alliance in the region would endure.
“We have an interest, both the United States and the Philippines, in ensuring that our partnership continue because … of shared threats, and that is undoubtedly the overreach and the aggressive and illegal activities of China,” he said.
“Our ties go back several year, and there may be some nuances in the relationship, but in general, policy remains the same.”
Mr Marles said Australia would continue to work closely with the US to lower regional tensions in the Pacific.
He indicated Australia’s partnership with the Philippines would benefit both countries.
“We will continue to try and look at more opportunities for us to be working more closely together,” he said.
“At the end of the day, building the most interoperable defence forces between Australia and the Philippines is very much in the national interest of Australia, it’s in the interests of the Philippines.”
