Philippines and Australia sign defence pact at 49th ASEAN summit

What happened

The 49th ASEAN summit opened on Sunday 15 November in Manila, and on the sidelines of the leaders’ meeting Australia and the Philippines signed a new defence pact. RFI (French)Channel NewsAsiaFAZ (German)Bangladesh Pratidin Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the signing and was invited to the summit, while Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro presented the agreement. RFI (French)Channel NewsAsiaYonhap News (Korean)Bangladesh Pratidin Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Chinese pressure creates a tense climate in the region. RFI (French)Channel NewsAsia The agreement aims to strengthen joint deterrence in the disputed South China Sea areas and builds on a decades‑old memorandum of understanding first signed in 1995. RFI (French)FAZ (German)Bangladesh Pratidin Anthony Albanese said the pact will deepen concrete cooperation between the forces of the two nations and create new opportunities for regional security. RFI (French)Yonhap News (Korean) Australia will provide air and surface drones to help secure some of the world’s busiest maritime corridors. RFI (French)Yonhap News (Korean) The signing took place aboard an Australian navy ship docked in Manila, on the sidelines of a leaders’ meeting. Channel NewsAsiaYonhap News (Korean) China has controlled Scarborough Shoal since 2012; a 2016 international tribunal ruling was favourable to the Philippines regarding the shoal, while China claims nearly the entire South China Sea and an international tribunal has ruled that claim has no legal basis. The Philippines supports the ruling, but China rejects it. RFI (French)FAZ (German)Bangladesh PratidinChannel NewsAsia

The details

The summit is scheduled to run until Tuesday 17 November. RFI (French) Scarborough Shoal lies off the western coast of the Philippines near Masinloc. RFI (French) In 2024 China declared the area around Scarborough Shoal off‑limits to foreign vessels. RFI (French) Filipino fishermen in Masinloc report intimidation by Chinese coast‑guard vessels, and Leonardo Cuaresma, president of a local fishermen’s association, says he has repeatedly been blocked and chased by Chinese coast‑guard boats. RFI (French) China says its activities in the South China Sea are legal and professional. Bangladesh Pratidin Australia supports the Philippines’ position in the South China Sea dispute. Bangladesh Pratidin The new pact simplifies the procedures of the 2012 Visiting Forces Agreement, allowing smoother joint deployments. Yonhap News (Korean) Philippine soldiers will be able to train with Australian equipment and weapons under the new agreement. FAZ (German) The pact simplifies joint maneuvers and allows forces of each country to operate on the other’s territory. FAZ (German) The agreement will enhance cooperation among the navies, armies and air forces, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster‑relief efforts. Bangladesh Pratidin In the month before the signing, the Philippines hosted an ADMM‑Plus defence ministers’ meeting in Cebu where the United States, Japan and others discussed security cooperation against China. Yonhap News (Korean) Four countries agreed to establish a joint coordination centre in the Philippines to assist its defence. Yonhap News (Korean) On 17 November, the leaders of the Quad—United States, Japan, India and Australia—met in Manila to discuss how to respond to China’s growing military influence in the Indo‑Pacific. Yonhap News (Korean) The Philippines and Australia have faced years of confrontations with China over disputed areas of the South China Sea. Channel NewsAsia The pact includes enhanced maritime activities such as information sharing, strategic dialogue, training and defence‑infrastructure development. Channel NewsAsia Australian ambassador Mark Innes‑Brown was present at the signing ceremony. Bangladesh Pratidin

Context and impact

The South China Sea is a strategic waterway where overlapping claims have led to confrontations. The new defence pact signals deeper security cooperation between Australia and the Philippines, aiming to deter pressure, improve maritime surveillance and strengthen regional deterrence, which could shift power dynamics in the Indo‑Pacific.

What we do not know yet

The exact extent to which the agreement cuts coordination steps remains disputed; some reports say about ten steps replace roughly one hundred, while other accounts give different figures.