TOKYO — Japan’s defense ministry is considering exports of surface-to-ship missiles to the Philippines, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday, as Tokyo adopts a more assertive regional security role amid concern about China.
Japan last month unveiled its biggest overhaul of defense export rules in decades, scrapping restrictions on overseas arms sales and opening the way for exports of warships, missiles and other weapons.
Beijing has expressed its displeasure about Tokyo’s new efforts in defence, with bilateral relations at a particularly low ebb since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response.
A day earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping also warned U.S. President Donald Trump at a closely watched summit that mishandling the countries’ disagreements over Taiwan could push China-U.S. relations to a “dangerous place”.
Japan has previously said that it is looking at the early supply of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines.
Japan’s defense ministry did not immediately comment on the report about missile exports. A spokesperson for the Philippine Defense Department noted that the two countries have agreed to discuss the sale of defense assets.
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces fired a Type 88 anti‑ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with U.S., Australian, and Philippine forces this month.
The Philippines, together with Japan’s southwestern island chain, forms part of what military planners call the First Island Chain, a string of islands that hems in China’s access from its coastal waters to the Western Pacific.
Other countries such as Indonesia and Poland are exploring procurement opportunities from Japan as they modernise their forces, Japanese officials and foreign diplomats have told Reuters.
—Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Kaori Kaneko; Additional reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Edwina Gibbs
