Philippine Defense Secretary: East China Sea and South China Sea Should Be Considered the Same Theater of Operations

Philippine Defense Minister: It is reasonable to regard the East China Sea and the South China Sea as one theater

Philippine Defense Minister Teodoro said on Monday that military leaders are striving to implement the concept of "one theater" in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and pointed out that the Philippines faces threats similar to Japan in the disputed waters.

The Asahi Shimbun reported in April that Japanese Defense Minister Nakagawa suggested to U.S. Defense Secretary Hagel to regard the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and surrounding areas as a single "theater," meaning a military operational area.

Teodoro said on Monday that it is "reasonable" to view the East China Sea and the South China Sea as a single operational area, noting that neither of these seas has a land boundary. However, Teodoro believes that the theater should not include the Korean Peninsula.

Teodoro said during a joint press conference with visiting Lithuanian Defense Minister Sakalas: "This will involve operational coordination, domain awareness coordination, intelligence exchange coordination, and mutual strengthening of our advantages to achieve double real-time work."

Teodoro said that the Japanese Joint Operations Command is implementing a theater concept, and the defense ministers of the "SQUAD" (Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States) will establish a coordination center in December this year to implement the theater concept.

Teodoro said: "So this is already an operational concept, without the need for any other agreement." Japan and the Philippines signed the Reciprocal Logistics Agreement last year to facilitate smooth troop movements between the two countries.

Under President Marcos, the Philippines has expanded its alliances beyond traditional allies such as the United States, signing defense agreements with Japan and New Zealand, and negotiating similar agreements with Canada and France.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836370584330240/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.