Philippines joins Japan’s ‘one-theatre’ plan against China sea threat

Strategy will treat the East and South China seas as a unified theatre of operations as regional allies align against Beijing’s growing influence

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A member of the Philippine Navy looks out at the Japanese destroyer Takanami during a joint maritime exercise in the South China Sea on June 14. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 3 Jul 2025Updated: 1:09pm, 3 Jul 2025

The Philippines is adopting a Japan-led strategy to treat the East and South China seas as a unified theatre of operations – a shift that is seen to reflect growing alignment among regional allies in the face of China’s expanding maritime footprint.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the “one-theatre” concept would promote operational synergy, intelligence-sharing and mutual reinforcement among members of the minilateral “Squad” – comprising the Philippines, Japan, the United States, South Korea and Australia.

“Since the threats to Japan, the Philippines, and other like-minded countries are principally maritime, even in geography Japan being an archipelagic nation and us, and in the aerial domain, it is reasonable since there is no land border involved to treat the area as one theatre,” Teodoro told local media at a press conference on Monday.

He was referring to Tokyo’s proposed security strategy concept to the US by Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani to consider the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Korean peninsula as a single theatre, as reported by the Asahi newspaper.

Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani (left) shakes hands with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro before their talks in Singapore on June 1. Photo: Kyodo

Nakatani reportedly proposed a “one-theatre” approach to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth when the US official was in Tokyo on March 30, which the Pentagon chief welcomed.

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