The Lithuanian government is open to a possibility of a defense pact with the Philippines that will allow the presence of their troops in each other’s soil and enter into joint military exercise.

“We are not going to compete with our colleagues in Europe, but yes, we talked about possibility of this. We just opened dialogue on certain areas. So we will see how that goes,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said in an interview with NewsWatch.

The foreign official was asked about the possibility of a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and Lithuania as France targets to become the first European country to negotiate an agreement with Manila.

“If we see that there is a need to have a visiting force agreement, of course, we are going to go further on that,” she added.

The defense minister, who had a three-day visit to the Philippines, assured that the current discussions on skills exchange and joint participation in certain exercises do not require an agreement like the VFA.

“Currently, when we discussed joint participation in certain exercises and observation and sharing certain skills and expertise, so far, this is in the planning phase,” Šakalienė said.

“And in certain cases, participation does not require that agreement. So we will see how it goes. We are open to discuss it definitely,” she added.

While the 1987 Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign troops from establishing permanent military bases in the country, through agreements like the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan and the VFA with the US, foreign militaries may be allowed to enter the country for activities.

Aside from agreements with the US and Japan, the Philippines also has an existing deal with Australia and New Zealand.

These increased maritime and defense alliances came on the heels of China’s aggressive actions in the region, which it continues to claim almost in its entirety despite the 2016 arbitral tribunal win that invalidated the basis of these claims.