By Daisuke Yamamoto
Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled a plan at a meeting Saturday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino to provide Manila with 10 coast guard patrol ships through a yen loan to help it counter an increasingly assertive China.
In a bid to help achieve peace on Mindanao, where the Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group is in conflict with the government, Abe also spelled out a new package of official development assistance aimed at building schools and clinics, and developing personnel for an autonomous political entity to be established.
"Relations between Japan and the Philippines are rooted in their long-term friendly history and exchanges," Abe told a joint news conference with Aquino after their summit in Manila, pledging to further strengthen bilateral ties through new Japanese assistance.
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