Philippines and Japan agree to boost security ties

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) and Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin posing to the media before a meeting at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Saturday, April 9, 2022. - AFP

TOKYO, April 9, 2022 (AFP): Japan and the Philippines agreed to boost security ties in their first foreign and defence ministerial meeting on Saturday, amid worries over China's increasingly assertive maritime activities.

It was the first so-called two-plus-two talks between the two US allies, both of which have overlapping territorial claims with Beijing.