Kishida to address PH Congress

CNN Philippines

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is set to address the Philippine Congress tomorrow. He will be the first Japanese leader to do so.  Eimor Santos tells us why this is historic.  Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/  Follow our social media pages:  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines

Transcript

00:00 Lawmakers hold a joint session every year to hear the President's State of the Nation

00:07 address.

00:08 In a rare event Saturday, a joint session will be convened for a foreign head of state,

00:13 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

00:16 He will be the sixth head of nation to speak before a joint session of Philippine Congress.

00:22 The Senate and House will resume their sessions at 9 in the morning to pass the resolutions

00:28 for the two houses to invite Kishida and convene a joint session at the Patasang Pambansa at

00:33 11 a.m.

00:34 Here, the Japanese Prime Minister will deliver his speech.

00:39 Senate President Mig Zubiri personally invited Kishida during the senator's visit to Tokyo

00:44 in April.

00:45 Zubiri proposed a reciprocal access agreement between the Philippines and Japan.

00:50 Here, the two countries will open its doors to each other's soldiers for training.

00:55 Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva says this will be a big help amid China's bullying

01:00 in the West Philippine Sea.

01:02 We are in a situation where we need allies, especially superpower countries like Japan,

01:11 that will be our allies, that respect the rule of law, that respect their friends and

01:31 that will be our allies.

01:54 There is a historic rivalry between Japan and China that began during the Sino-Japanese

02:00 War in 1894, so that rivalry is still ongoing.

02:04 Japan's role at this point in time, of course, is to balance China, to prevent China from

02:10 dominating not only the West Philippine Sea, South China Sea, but the whole of Southeast

02:14 Asia.

02:15 And in a way, our interests converges with Japan.

02:18 De Castro adds Japan is a big boost to the country's economy.

02:23 Japan is the most important nation when it comes to investment and when it comes to official

02:30 development assistance.

02:31 Many of the big-ticket infrastructure projects are being funded by the Japanese.

02:36 So it's not China.

02:37 Despite China's promise of $24 billion in 2016, those money never entered the country.

02:45 It's Japan that has basically put its money where its mouth is.

02:49 Japan is the Philippines' biggest source of official development assistance for various

02:53 projects.

02:54 That's over P7 trillion over the last two decades, or 70 percent of the country's bilateral

03:01 loans.

03:02 House Speaker Martin Romualdez says the House is exerting all efforts to prepare for hosting

03:08 Kishida.

03:09 His optimist take the countries can improve their cooperation for the betterment of Filipinos.

03:14 Amor Santos, CNN, Philippines.

Category

Transcript

Recommended