The Armed Forces of the Philippines will be studying China’s offer to conduct a joint military exercise with the country, military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said.
“They offered us that prospect, but we have to study it further,” Brawner said at the sidelines of the 96th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Mandaluyong on Wednesday night.
The AFP did not provide further details as to how and where the joint military exercise will be possibly conducted between China and the Philippines.
“Informal lang (The talks are still informal). The ambassador said they submitted white papers, but we have to study,” he added.
Meanwhile, Brawner said his presence during the China’s Army event is part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s marching order to “become friends to all, enemy to none.”
“We (AFP) we’re naturally told alike, that’s what we are going to do. We try to establish relations with the armies—with armed forces around the world and this is one way for us to actually prevent war,” he stressed.
According to Brawner, the AFP’s relations with its counterpart in China remain limited to training.
“We send our officers in training schools in China, particularly in National Defense University and as I mentioned awhile ago that during the Marawi Siege, they send us some weapons and ammunition,” he said.
For his part, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian said mentioned the military-to-military ties between China and the Philippines.
“There have been a high-level exchanges in the defense sector, deepening cooperation in education and training, and smooth implementation of military assistance by our side to the AFP,” Xilian said.
Further, Brawner told the reporters that the Philippine government is keen to improve its “international and bilateral relations” with other countries.
“We are opening up to any country that would like to help us—because right now one of the efforts that we are trying to do—is trying to develop our own defense industry,” he said.
The Philippines is adamant to boost its self-reliance defense posture, he added.
“So as much as possible, we get help from other countries because they’re more modern and they have funds for research and development while we are fighting an insurgency war for the longest time,” the AFP chief said.
Brawner also lamented that most of the defense fund goes to its efforts against local insurgency as well as maintaining peace and security in the country.
Brawner said the Philippines has to extend its diplomatic ties with China.
“So let’s do first what we can do in terms of diplomacy and our last resort will be military. That’s why we try to look into several avenues where we could really cooperate, for instance, preservation of our biodiversity and that’s one area that we could cooperate,” he said.