Philippines, US forces hold joint military exercises in West Philippine Sea

MANILA, Philippines —  Philippine and United States forces held a joint military exercise in Philippine waters on Wednesday as defense and foreign officials of the two countries concluded their meeting in Manila.

The two allies’ Maritime Cooperative Activity was held within the country’s exclusive economic zone specifically in the waters west of Palawan, involving the USS Mobile and the BRP Ramon Alcaraz.

Earlier, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo met with US defense chief Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for their 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, held for the first time in Manila.

The joint maneuver included a series of events aimed at enhancing communication and operational coordination between the navies of the Philippine and the US. The activities included communications check exercise, division tactics, officer of the watch maneuver exercise, photographic exercise and cross deck exercise.

“By conducting these exercises, both navies aim to improve their readiness and ability to operate together in ensuring maritime security and stability in the region,” the Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement.

AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. emphasized the significance of cooperative activities in maintaining regional peace and security.

“These joint exercises with our ally are crucial in enhancing our naval capabilities and ensuring that we can effectively collaborate to safeguard our maritime interests,” Brawner said.

During his visit to the Philippine Navy headquarters in Subic, Austin underscored US-Philippines shared priorities of further strengthening maritime security and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific.

“Today, we saw some of our industrial base companies out here working together to create additional capability, and that’s also very exciting,” he added.

After arriving in Manila on Tuesday, Austin and Blinken met with President Marcos during which they reaffirmed US support for the Philippines in defending its sovereign rights.

“You’ve seen us announce a number of key initiatives. Yesterday you heard us talk about the $500 million in [foreign military financing] opportunity here that we’re going to provide to the Philippines,” Austin said.

Chinese vessels are back

The number of Chinese vessels in Philippine waters has again soared, apparently due to improving weather that prompted many of them to return after waiting out Typhoon Carina (Gaemi) and the enhanced southwest monsoon.

The Philippine Navy said there were a total of 104 Chinese naval and coast guard ships and maritime militia boats spotted inside the country’s EEZ from July 23 to July 29. There were only 80 Chinese vessels of various types in the West Philippine Sea between July 16 and July 22, the Philippine Navy said.

The increase in the number of Chinese vessels was most noticeable in the area of Pag-asa Island, from 10 maritime militia vessels to 29 including one belonging to China Coast Guard.

There are six People’s Liberation Army Navy warships detected from only two in the past days.

Three of the naval vessels were sighted in the vicinity of Escoda (Sabina) Shoal while three were seen each in Panatag Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc), Ayungin Shoal and Panata Island.

Philippine Navy monitoring from July 9 to 15 also showed a big drop in the number of Chinese vessels in WPS from 105 to only 80.

But Philippine Navy spokesman for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad explained the decrease was likely due to bad weather, particularly effects of the monsoon and typhoons Butchoy and Carina. – Michael Punongbayan