Japan wants to give planes to the Philippines that Manila could
use for patrols in the South China Sea, sources said, a move that would deepen
Tokyo's security ties with the Southeast Asian nation most at odds with Beijing
over the disputed waterway.
Four sources with knowledge of the matter
told Reuters that Japan was looking to offer three Beechcraft TC-90 King Air
planes that could be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar.
They
said talks within the Japanese government were preliminary and would need to
overcome legal hurdles. Japan had yet to formally propose the planes as an
alternative to more sophisticated Lockheed Martin P3-C aircraft that Manila
wants to track Chinese submarine activity, they added.
Senior
Philippine military and defence officials in Manila said they had not heard
about the possible donation of the twin-turboprop TC-90 aircraft, which Japan
uses to train military pilots.
"The
Philippines doesn't have enough aircraft to conduct regular patrols over the
South China Sea," one of the sources in Japan said, declining to be
identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Donating aircraft, even small planes, would represent a military upgrade for
the Philippines, which has only a handful of fixed-wing planes it can deploy on
maritime patrols.
Tokyo
has no claims in the South China Sea, but is worried about Beijing's
construction of seven artificial islands in the waterway's Spratly archipelago,
which will extend Chinese military reach into sea lanes through which much of
Japan's ship-borne trade passes.
Concerns
over the islands have dominated regional meetings in Kuala Lumpur this week
between Southeast Asia and countries including Japan, China and the United
States.
Equipping Manila with maritime-capable patrol planes would dovetail with Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe's more muscular security agenda but likely anger China,
which has repeatedly accused Japan of interfering in the South China Sea
dispute.
A spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Defense said working level talks had been
set up to explore possible cooperation in defence equipment with the
Philippines but that there was no "concrete plan" to give Manila the
TC-90s.
Philippine Defence Minister Voltaire Gazmin told Reuters he was unaware of any
Japanese plan to supply the aircraft. Top Philippine generals said they were
also unaware of any proposal but welcomed the growing security cooperation with
Japan.
China's Defence Ministry expressed concern about
the plan.
"We hope that military cooperation
between the relevant countries can benefit regional peace and stability, rather
than the opposite," it said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
POSSIBLE PRECEDENT
To allow what would be its first donation
of equipment used by the Japanese military to another country, lawmakers would
have to amend financial regulations that require second-hand government-owned
equipment to be sold at fair market value, sources said.
That could open the
way for Japan to give military equipment to other friendly nations in Southeast
Asia.
The sources in Japan
said radar to monitor surface activity and aircraft could be easily installed
on the TC-90 planes if they were transferred. The U.S. military uses Beechcraft
King Air 90s in transport roles and to train pilots.
While Gazmin said Manila
still wanted P3s that Tokyo will retire over the next several years, a senior
Philippine military official said operating and maintaining such advanced
surveillance aircraft and ground-based support equipment would be a challenge.
The P3s, which have four turboprops, also use a lot of fuel, he added.
Japan worries that the
Philippine military's lack of experience in maritime surveillance means it
would struggle to operate the aircraft's equipment and be able to quickly
analyze data collected, sources in Tokyo said.
GROWING
SECURITY COOPERATION
China claims most of the South China Sea.
The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam also claim parts of the
ocean.
While acknowledging its
new islands will have undefined military purposes, China insists it is not a
threat to its neighbours and says the outposts will also have civilian uses
such as search and rescue and weather monitoring.
Recent satellite images
show China has almost finished building a 3,000-metre-long (10,000-foot)
airstrip on one of the islands.
The Philippines and
Japan have conducted two naval exercises in and around the South China Sea in
recent months.
Philippine President
Benigno Aquino and Abe also agreed in June to begin talks on a visiting forces
agreement that would open the way for Japan to use bases in the Philippines to
refuel aircraft and resupply naval vessels.
The United States,
which has security treaties with both Manila and Tokyo, has backed the
cooperation because it wants its regional allies to shoulder more of the
security burden as Chinese military power and assertiveness grows.
Washington has asked
the Japanese military to provide training and maintenance along with any
aircraft it supplies to the Philippines, a U.S. military source told
Reuters.
(Additional
reporting by Manuel Mogato in MANILA and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Dean Yates)
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