Ishiba said without elaborating that he would carry out consultations in the Philippines, where major Japanese companies have a presence, to "work toward a better solution.” He flew to the Philippines after a visit to Vietnam, another Southeast Asian nation which has had increasingly hostile confrontations with China's coast guard, naval and suspected militia forces in recent years.
China didn't immediately comment on Ishiba's remarks. Beijing claims virtually the entire waterway, where it has bolstered its coast guard and naval presence and built artificial island bases to fortify its claims. Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.
The Philippines, Marcos said, would continue its strengthened strategic partnership with Japan, which “shares our ideals and aspirations of upholding democratic institutions and the rules-based international order.”
In the East China Sea, China has routinely sent coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace that surround islands, which are claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing, to harass Japanese vessels. That has prompted Japan at times to scramble jets in response.
“We oppose any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo through force or coercion in the East and South China Seas,” Ishiba said in an obvious reprimand of China, though he didn't name the country. "I hope that our two countries will continue to work closely together to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law.”
The defense pact that Japan and the Philippines would start to negotiate is called the Acquisition and Cross-servicing Agreement, which would allow the provision of food, fuel and other necessities when Japanese forces visit the Philippines for joint training under a major defense accord that was signed last year and is expected to be ratified by the Japanese legislature.
The other proposed agreement involves the security of highly confidential defense and military information the countries could share. The United States and the Philippines signed such an agreement in November to secure the exchange of highly confidential military intelligence and technology in key weapons that the U.S. would provide to Manila.
During their talks, Ishiba said that he and Marcos reaffirmed the importance of their trilateral alliance with the U.S.
The U.S. has repeatedly warned China over its escalating acts of aggression in the disputed waters against Japan and the Philippines, which are among Washington's staunchest treaty allies in Asia.
However, Trump’s tariff impositions on Japan and the Philippines, among other countries worldwide, have sparked an awkward dilemma among the close security allies.
“The U.S. tariff measures have dealt a major blow to the economies of both Vietnam and the Philippines. In addition, there have been major impacts on Japanese companies expanding into these countries,” Ishiba said over the weekend in Tokyo before traveling to Vietnam and the Philippines.
He was scheduled to meet with Japanese company executives in the Philippines to hear their concerns, Japanese officials said.
After visiting a Japanese war memorial in Laguna province, south of Manila, on Wednesday, Ishiba is scheduled to board in Manila the BRP Magbanua, one of the two largest patrol ships built by Japan for the Philippine coast guard.
The Magbanua has figured in increasingly hostile faceoffs with the Chinese coast guard in the South China Sea and was damaged in one tense encounter last year in the disputed Sabina Shoal. The countries accused each other then of instigating the high seas confrontation.
Japan has supplied a dozen patrol ships in recent years to the Philippines, which is using them largely to defend its territorial interest in the South China Sea. Japan plans to build at least five more patrol ships for the Philippines. It has also provided radars and other defense equipment for the underfunded Philippine military.
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Aaron Favila in Manila, and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok, contributed to this report.
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