The Philippines forged a stronger partnership with Lithuania to counter “common threats”, particularly in the West Philippine Sea and Baltic Sea.

Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. held a bilateral meeting with Lithuanian Minister for National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė in Makati City on Monday, June 30, and they were scheduled to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) within the day to elevate their defense cooperation.

“This visit is one of the outcomes of the extra-regional partnerships that smaller countries, in particular like the Philippines and Lithuania, need to build because we see common threats, common challenges, not only of threat actors but also of situational considerations,” Teodoro said during the bilateral meeting, part of which was allowed to be covered by the media.

For her part, Šakalienė stated that the MOU will “[elevate] our defense cooperation to a new level.”

“This MOU is most symbolic, it's a framework for a meaningful cooperation, and our strategic commitment to the Indo-Pacific is laid out in our new strategy for defense and security engagement in this region,” she noted.

While both ministers did not mention any country to refer to the common threat that the two nations’ face, both the Philippines and Lithuania have addressed pressing concerns due to China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea and Baltic Sea.

In November 2024, a Chinese cargo ship was linked to the disruption of two submarine telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea. The data communication cables link Lithuania to Sweden, prompting the Lithuanian naval force to increase its surveillance operations against suspected hybrid warfare.

Chinese ships also subject Philippine vessels and aircraft to frequent harassment in the West Philippine Sea, as both Manila and Beijing have overlapping territorial claims in the area. China’s claims within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), however, were already invalidated by a 2016 arbitral ruling Beijing continues to ignore the decision.

“We see great potential for cooperation with Philippines in many areas, such as maritime security, including challenges related to shadow fleets by some big countries, our neighbors operating in the South China Sea and Baltic Sea,” Šakalienė said.

She said Manila and Vilnius will discuss ways to protect critical underwater infrastructure, and address hybrid threats and disinformation. She said the two countries would explore possible areas of cooperation on cyber security, exchange of intelligence, military exchange including training, civil defense and crisis response, defence industry, and migration.

“Based on national security challenges, we feel that it would be very useful to have less population from the former Soviet Russia territory and more people who are Catholic, English-speaking, and pro-Western, and really have very common values with us, and also issues on support of Ukraine to be discussed and worked together on,” she said.

Meanwhile, Teodoro underscored that there is a need for the Philippines and Lithuania to insist on the proper application of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and other international norms.

He said both nations should also “resist any attempt to unilaterally redefine international law to the detriment of smaller countries.”

He said small nations need the protection of international law in order for them to retain their territorial integrities and sovereignties, and to steward their resources and natural gifts for future generations.

“We hope to sign a memorandum of understanding to put into concrete terms what we intend to do as a framework agreement which will allow us to pursue more advanced exchanges on a bigger scale in the coming years to come as part of the alliance-building efforts of the Marcos administration,” he noted.

This was the first time that a Lithuanian defense minister visited the country, and such visit by Šakalienė was an offshoot of her meeting with Teodoro during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1.

The Philippines and Lithuania will mark the 35th anniversary of their diplomatic relations next year.