MANILA -Britain has formally expressed its intention to discuss a Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines, Manila’s Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Tuesday, as Manila deepens its security ties with Western allies amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Teodoro said Britain’s Minister of State for Defence, Lord Vernon Coaker, presented a letter from British Defence Secretary John Healey during a meeting in Manila, conveying the country’s intent to forge an agreement allowing the two nations to deploy troops on each other’s soil, making it easier for their militaries to work together.

The Department of National Defense said in a separate statement that both sides also exchanged views on the regional security situation, including developments in the South China Se

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