‘UK interested in joining West Philippine Sea naval exercises’

MANILA, Philippines —  The United Kingdom is interested in participating in combined naval drills and activities that the Philippines and its partner nations have been engaging in during the last two years, mostly in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said UK’s intention to enter into a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the Philippines is therefore a welcome development in boosting defense relations between the two countries.

He confirmed that he received a letter from the British minister of defense expressing such intentions by the UK, which means that “it will be the second European country that we will be negotiating a SOVFA with.”

“And the next step will be for me to be authorized by the President to negotiate such a SOVFA,” he said yesterday.

“They’re very interested, of course, in multilateral maritime exercises and for us, we see a fit also with our army and their army being smaller armed forces, and we can learn a lot from the way that they operate as a smaller army,” Teodoro said.

He noted that the UK’s intention to enter into a SOVFA with the Philippines shows “full support not only for UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), for international law, but full support for the Arbitral Award.”

“That is the clearest expression that a country may have to support our position in the West Philippine Sea,” Teodoro said when asked what UK’s move means for the Philippines.

He said negotiating the SOVFA with the UK means President Marcos will have to consult with the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, “but I don’t see any problem.”

According to him, the Philippines is currently negotiating a SOVFA with France, is waiting to sign on one with Canada and is waiting for Senate confirmation on another with New Zealand.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it has so far conducted a number of maritime cooperative activities since November 2023 and 11 multilateral maritime cooperative activities since April 2024.

Such bilateral and multilateral naval events were mostly held in the WPS where Chinese military, coast guard and maritime militia vessels continue to maintain illegal presence inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Live fire drill warning ?

The announcement of a live fire drill by a warship from China during a recent humanitarian mission by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Philippine Coast Guard near Panatag Shoal made Filipino fishermen venturing in the area fear for their lives, a PCG official said.

People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-Navy ship 525 declared via radio it was “conducting live fire exercises at the (inaudible) area” near Panatag Shoal, also called Scarborough Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, and made a “request (to) all ships to keep safe distance” at 8:30 a.m. last Tuesday.

Within and surrounding the four coordinates plotted for the PLA-Navy’s live fire drill east of Panatag Shoal were several vessels of the China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese maritime militia, as well as “(PCG) vessels BRP Cabra and BRP Gabriela Silang and a lot of Filipino fishing boats inside,” according to Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman on West Philippine Sea issues.

The area of the live fire drill was located around 90 nautical miles off the coast of the province of Zambales, he added.

“What we did after the live fire drill announcement of the PLA-Navy was we moved farther from Bajo de Masinloc and advised the fishing boats to stay away,” said Tarriela at a media briefing in Manila yesterday.

He noted the live fire drill announcement could have been the “very first” that both the PCG and the Filipino fishing boats equipped with one-way radio equipment had encountered.

“It was a very serious threat to the point that the fishermen were afraid so we asked them to move out from the grid coordinates,” he said further.

However, Tarriela said the PLA-Navy did not carry out its live fire drill, believing it could have only served as a warning due to the “large” presence of Filipino fisherfolk – an estimated 40 of them – in Panatag Shoal. “We’d like to think the radio broadcast of conducting the live fire drill was used by the PLA-Navy to threaten the large number of Filipino fishing boats.”

Meanwhile, Tarriela debunked claims by Chinese state media Xinhua that a Philippine ship “deliberately rammed into (CCG) ship in waters near Huangyan Dao,” China’s name for Panatag Shoal.

He referred to the incident that happened last Sept. 16 wherein BFAR ship BRP Datu Gumbay Piang was attacked by water cannon blasts from two CCG vessels with bow numbers 5201 and 21562 on both sides of the Philippine ship.

The jet-stream force of the water cannon damaged parts of the BFAR vessel’s bridge and its air-conditioning and communication equipment, and also left a crewmember injured on his right ear.

The United States and the National Maritime Council yesterday condemned China’s latest aggressive actions against Philippine government vessels near Panatag Shoal.

“The US condemns China’s aggressive actions in the EEZ near Scarborough Reef. We commend the Philippine government and Philippine Coast Guard for professionally exercising Philippine sovereign rights, protecting Filipino fisherfolk and upholding maritime law for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said in a post on X.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry meanwhile claimed the Philippine vessel’s “intrusion” jeopardized peace and stability at sea. – Ghio Ong, Pia Lee-Brago, Helen Flores