France eyes first draft of defense pact with PH in Sept 2024 — envoy

France is hoping to submit in September the first draft of a planned defense pact with the Philippines, which will allow joint military training and increased access of French troops to the country, its envoy in Manila said Friday.

French Ambassador Marie Fontanel said efforts were underway to draw up the document, which she called the "zero draft" that will be the basis of negotiations for a Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and France.

"We are expecting we will be sending something by September that will launch the negotiations with the Philippines," Fontanel said in a chance interview at the sidelines of a forum commemorating the eighth anniversary of an arbitral tribunal ruling that invalidated China's historic and massive claim in the South China Sea.

Fontanel said Filipino and French defense officials held a meeting in Paris in May, where both sides agreed that France would be the one to work on the initial draft.

In recent years, Manila has been expanding maritime and defense security cooperation with allies amid increasing tensions with China in several hotspot areas in the South China Sea, including the Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin Shoal, and Scarborough Shoal, which Filipinos call Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal.

Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a landmark military accord, called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which will grant access to military personnel from both states to hold joint trainings in each other’s country.

The move is part of efforts to strengthen their defense alliance amid China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

In the most violent assault against the Philippines, Chinese Coast Guard personnel, armed with axe, knives and spears, repeatedly rammed Philippine Navy boats, causing one Filipino soldier to lose his right thumb, smashed the vessels’ navigational screens, and seized two vessels and several rifles, during a confrontation last June 17 off Second Thomas Shoal.

The BRP Sierra Madre, grounded at the shoal since 1999, is manned by several Marines and Navy personnel and has become a symbol of Philippine sovereignty.

"I know that the example of Japan (RAA) is quite impressive in terms of matters of speed of the negotiation so let's hope it could have the same path," Fontanel said.

The RAA, similar to the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States, is Japan's third defense accord after the United Kingdom and Australia.

Both agreements serve as a legal framework that allows American and Japanese forces to visit the country temporarily for military exercises and provide humanitarian and disaster-response aid.

A similar accord was signed by the Philippines and Australia in 2007.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign troops from establishing permanent military bases in the country. — VDV, GMA Integrated News