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Japan said it was looking to strengthen joint military exercises with the Philippines as the two U.S. allies on Thursday pledged to forge closer security ties at a time of heightened tensions with China.

The maritime nations also penned a deal to allow their armed forces to work together during disaster relief operations, an agreement seen as a step towards a broader pact that could allow both countries to deploy forces on each other's soil.

"In this year of complex international situations, Japan attaches great importance to cooperation with the Philippines," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in his opening remarks at a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Tokyo.

Kishida later said the two had agreed to try and establish a framework that would "strengthen and smooth the process of holding joint exercises".

Japan held joint military exercises with the United States and the Philippines as recently as October.

Taiwan, which lies between Japan and the Philippines, has become a focal point of intensifying Chinese military activity that Tokyo and Washington worry could escalate into war as Beijing tries to capture what it views as a rogue province.

President Marcos, on his first visit to Japan since taking office in July, last week signed an agreement granting the United States greater access to its military bases.

The disaster relief deal with Tokyo is seen as a possible precursor to establishing a visiting forces agreement that would allow Japanese forces to deploy to the Philippines more easily.

Tokyo has such pacts with Australia and Britain, and also hosts the biggest concentration of U.S. forces abroad.

A Japanese military presence in the Philippines could help Manila counter Chinese influence in the South China Sea, much of which Beijing claims, including the territory that Manila considers its own.

"After our meeting, I can confidently say that our strategic partnership is stronger than ever as we navigate together the rough waters buffeting our region," Marcos said, adding he had agreed to cooperate more closely with Japan on areas including defence cooperation and maritime security. (Reuters)

Singapore will drop a requirement for travellers who are not fully vaccinated to show COVID test results or purchase coronavirus travel insurance from Feb 13, the government's virus taskforce said on Thursday.

Masks will also not be required to be worn on public transport, the health ministry said in a statement, as authorities lowered the disease outbreak response level to "green" from "yellow", indicating COVID-19 is not threatening.

However, masks will still be mandatory in healthcare settings, where there is interaction with patients and in indoor patient-facing areas.

"Within Singapore our COVID situation has remained stable over the recent months, despite increased travel over the year-end holidays and China's shift from zero COVID," Lawrence Wong, deputy prime minister and co-chair of the virus taskforce, told a media briefing.

"Our population has developed a high level of hybrid immunity," he said.

Around 80% of the city-state’s 5.6 million population have achieved minimum COVID-19 vaccination protection, and around half are up to date with their additional booster shots, health ministry data showed.

"We've had to deal with many unexpected curveballs and surprises along the way. But we managed to reach this point together because we all did our part," Wong said.

The public can also remove COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, and the government has deleted identifiable data from its servers and database, health minister Ong Ye Kung said.

Since April last year, Singapore had lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions with many international events returning to the city-state, attracting tourists and businesses.

The Asian financial hub is expecting the tourism sector to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024. (Reuters)

The United States, Britain and Australia carried out joint air drills on Wednesday over the Nevada desert and beyond as part of an effort to simulate high-end combat operations against Chinese fighter aircraft and air defenses.

Reuters accompanied British forces for several hours during the U.S.-hosted, three-week-long Red Flag exercises aboard Britain's KC-2 Voyager refueling tanker aircraft, which on Wednesday supplied fuel for U.S. and British fighter jets.

U.S. Air Force Colonel Jared J. Hutchinson, commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron that runs Red Flag, said the annual drills were not tied to any recent events. On Saturday, a U.S. fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, hiking tensions.

"(China is) just the pacing challenge that we train to so that we're ready ... We think that if we're ready for China, we're ready for anybody," Hutchinson said, citing U.S policy.

At the heart of the drills was addressing the vast distances that the United States, Britain and Australia would contend with when operating across the Pacific, and improving inter-operability of the three countries' air forces.

For the crew aboard the Royal Air Force's Voyager, that means serving as a kind of gas station in the skies - providing air-to-air refueling of fighter aircraft carrying out the simulated mission.

Air Commodore John Lyle, commander of the RAF's Air Mobility Force, told Reuters the mission during the Red Flag drills would simulate bringing the air forces into "an area where there has been an invasion by a hostile country."

"So our role will be to support the force to effectively proceed into the area that's been occupied and to undertake targeting of key assets to allow us to degrade the enemy's capabilities," Lyle said, without mentioning China by name, or identifying what simulated area had been invaded.

The Pentagon has voiced growing concern in recent years about pressure by Beijing on self-ruled Taiwan, an island China sees as a breakaway province.

Beyond the tanker aircraft, Britain also flew Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets in the exercises. Australia contributed EA-18G Growler aircraft, according to data provided by Red Flag organizers.

The U.S. government has identified China as the U.S. military's top strategic priority, even as it devotes billions of dollars to support Kyiv in repelling invading Russian forces.

Speaking last week in Washington, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns also cautioned the United States knew "as a matter of intelligence" that Xi had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of self-governed Taiwan by 2027.

"Now, that does not mean that he's decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any other year, but it's a reminder of the seriousness of his focus and his ambition," Burns told an event at Georgetown University in Washington. (Reuters)

Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to protect their palm oil sector and counter discrimination and unilateral policies affecting the commodity and harming the two countries' interests, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has informed.

"Today, our dialogue primarily is on the palm oil industry. We discussed some urgent issues on the palm oil industry dialogue and proposed a joint approach allowing for coordinated action that we concur to protect the palm oil sector," he said.

He was speaking at a press conference following a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Plantation and Commodities Fadillah Yusof here on Thursday.

During the meeting, the two countries agreed to seek policy dialogues with major palm oil-importing countries, Hartarto added.

The strategy can help ensure expanded recognition of the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil System (ISPO) and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) in the global market followed by active measures.

According to Hartarto, the two countries also discussed expanding the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) through the inclusion of a third member after Malaysia and Indonesia.

"We have also agreed to welcome Honduras as the third member of CPOPC soon," he disclosed.

The two nations also agreed to send a joint mission to the European Union to addresstheir concerns and prevent unwanted consequences of the EU's deforestation-free commodity policy regarding the palm oil sector, he said.

Apart from seeking a collaborative approach between the relevant parties, the CPOPC will also involve itself with the EU to seek mutually beneficial solutions for palm oil consuming and producing countries.

Hartarto said that after the joint mission to the EU, Indonesia and Malaysia will also visit India to explore the potential for cooperation. India recently recognized ISPO and MSPO through the Indian Palm Oil Sustainability Framework.

Meanwhile, Yusof said that small palm oil farmers from Indonesia and Malaysia will be included in the joint mission to the EU so as to allow their voices to be heard.

The Malaysian minister emphasized the importance of maintaining environmental sustainability in developing the economy through palm oil.

"(The effort) is not only for the agriculture industry but also to protect the rights of small farmers to alleviate themselves from poverty," he said. (Antaranews)