New Delhi: Amid ongoing tensions with China, Philippines Ambassador to India Josel Francisco Ignacio said Monday that the BrahMos missiles offers a “credible defence” for the Southeast Asian country and is indicative of India’s “rising” capabilities.
“India and the Philippines stand at the cusp of a new phase of its relations, with more engagement. We are prying open new frontiers of cooperation including defence, space, financial technology,” he said during an interaction organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
In January 2022, Manila and New Delhi signed a $374.96 million deal for export of the shore-based variant of the anti-ship cruise missile, with a range of about 290 km. The delivery of the launch systems and missiles to the Philippines began in April this year, as reported earlier by ThePrint.
BrahMos missiles are manufactured by a Indo-Russian joint-venture BrahMos Aerospace. The deal with the Philippines is the first major international export order for the Indian defence sector.
The Philippines has in recent months been locked into a series of confrontations with China in the South China Sea. Last week, the Chinese coast guard seriously injured a Filipino sailor after attempting to disrupt a mission to resupply troops situated on the Second Thomas Shoal.
Tensions between the countries have been at a high, especially with consistent confrontations between the two in the Second Thomas Shoal, which is a territory part of the Spratly Islands.
An arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague had in 2016 decided that Beijing has no claims to the area which it said falls within the Philippines’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). But China has since refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the tribunal to rule on the dispute.
India backs the Philippines claim to the region, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar having stated the same during a visit to Manila in March 2024. According to Francisco Ignacio, India’s position of support for Manila on the dispute was first made clear in June 2023.
“We are closely following the military level talks between India and China on the boundary issues. Observing what happens in these talks offers valuable lessons to any country seeking to resolve disputes,” the Philippine ambassador to India said on the standoff in eastern Ladakh.
For Francisco Ignacio, the ties between New Delhi and Manila are increasingly “coalescing” around the strategic cooperation seen across varied areas, especially in defence. He added that the two countries are in talks to schedule a high-level delegation meeting, either in Manila or in Delhi, to celebrate 75 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties.
In 2019, the then President of India Ram Nath Kovind visited the Philippines and unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at a local college.
Also Read: China does a Galwan in South China Sea, Coast Guard carries spears and knives
Trade agreement, connectivity & education
The Philippine ambassador to India also emphasised that Manila is keen on commencing negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to boost economic ties between the two countries.
“In 2023, trade ties between India and the Philippines crossed $3 billion for the first time. India is amongst the top 15 trading partners for Manila. But there is space to do more, especially when it has trade ties between $15 billion to $30 billion with other ASEAN countries. We are interested in a PTA,” said Francisco Ignacio.
Apart from increasing trade, the Philippine ambassador highlighted plans to start the first direct air link between New Delhi and Manila in the “third quarter” of this year to boost people-to-people ties. He added that there are also plans to promote the island archipelago as a place for Indian students.
“The idea of promoting education and to realise direct air connectivity is essentially funnelling down to the idea of younger people getting to know one another,” explained Francisco Ignacio.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: China-Philippines South China Sea standoff shows a new dysfunctional diplomacy is on the rise