Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesman for the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command, said the drills on Sunday and Monday included fighter jet patrols, joint air and sea raids, and warships in cruising formation.
In a statement on Tuesday, Tian said the command would “continuously strengthen military training and war preparation” and “safeguard national sovereignty and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea”.
According to the Philippine Army, navy vessels and aircraft were sent to “the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone” in the West Philippine Sea – the name Manila uses for the part of the South China Sea that is within its EEZ.
Three Philippine warships – the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, BRP Antonio Luna, and BRP Valentin Diaz – took part in the drills, alongside the American USS Mobile, Japan’s JS Akebono and Australia’s HMAS Warramunga.
They conducted a “communication exercise, division tactics or officer of the watch manoeuvre, and a photo exercise” to strengthen collaboration in naval combat, according to the Philippine Army statement on Sunday.
Japan’s embassy in Manila said the joint exercises also included anti-submarine warfare training.
The Philippine Army said it “demonstrated the participating countries’ commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
It was the first full-scale joint exercises between the four countries and comes as hostilities have escalated between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, where they have competing claims.
China claims sovereignty over most of the strategic waterway, but a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal – a case brought by the Philippines – dismissed nearly all of those claims. Beijing has rejected that ruling.
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Chinese floating barrier blocks entrance to Philippine ships at South China Sea flashpoint
Chinese floating barrier blocks entrance to Philippine ships at South China Sea flashpoint
Chinese and Philippine vessels have had a number of run-ins near disputed reefs in the waterway in recent months, with Manila accusing Beijing of repeatedly obstructing its resupply missions for military personnel stationed on the rusting BRP Sierra Madre. Beijing says the Philippine vessels entered its territory illegally.
The Philippine Navy deliberately grounded the Sierra Madre, a World War II-era warship, on Second Thomas Shoal – known as Renai Jiao in China – in the Spratly Islands in the late 1990s to try to reinforce its claims to the area and stop China’s expansion.
Why is a rusty old Philippine warship involved in the South China Sea dispute?
Why is a rusty old Philippine warship involved in the South China Sea dispute?