Japan and the Philippines have begun talks for the transfer of two large coast guard ships to Manila, to help patrol the disputed South China Sea, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on Friday, as part of a deal on defense equipment.
The two brand-new 295-foot multi-role response vessels will be in addition to ten 144-foot mid-sized coast guard ships, worth $188.5 million, that Japan is set to start delivering next week.
“Both governments are looking into the possibility of getting two more vessels, this time the bigger ones,” Masato Ohtaka, deputy spokesman of Japan’s foreign ministry, told journalists in Manila.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion worth of trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the sea believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.
Japan has no claim in the South China Sea but it is in dispute with China over small islands in the East China Sea.
China says it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the area it claims and has refused to recognize the court ruling handed down last month in a case brought by the Philippines.
Source: Business Insider
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