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French frigate Vendémiaire at the 2024 Balikatan exercises somewhere in the West Philippine Sea. France could become the fourth country with which the Philippines enters into a Visiting Forces Agreement type of pact following Japan, as both nations seek to strengthen their defense cooperation.
“France and the Philippines met in Paris in May, late May. I think it was the fourth joint committee on defense cooperation. And both parties agreed on the process, and the agreement was that France would be the one to start writing the first draft of a VFA,” Fontanel recounted. In a related development, China remained firm in disregarding the legality of the 2016 arbitral ruling that upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, calling the verdict was “illegal” and “invalid.”
International think tank Stratbase ADR Institute meanwhile is calling for more joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea between the Philippines and like-minded countries, amid continuous illegal and aggressive actions of China in the area.
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