No Chinese vessel has been monitored around the area of the Philippines and United States navies’ joint maritime exercise in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday.
“No Chinese vessel was detected in the exercise area, both by visual and radar monitoring,” AFP public affairs office chief Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said in a statement.
The Philippine Navy and the US Navy on Wednesday conducted a maritime cooperative activity in the WPS using USS Mobile (LCS26) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS16).
According to the AFP, the two navies held communications check exercise, division tactics, officer of the watch maneuver exercise, photographic exercise, and cross deck exercise.
The joint maritime exercise aims to strengthen the interoperability and cooperative capabilities of the Philippine and the US navies.
“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,” AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said.
In April, two Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships were seen during the Philippines, United States, Japan, and Australia multinational maritime cooperative activity in the WPS.
These Chinese warships were spotted six nautical miles away from Busuanga, Palawan.
Also in November last year, a Chinese PLAN vessel shadowed Philippine and American ships conducting a joint maritime patrol in the WPS.
It was shadowing them from a distance of 6.5 nautical miles.
The Philippines and China in a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) meeting in July sought to de-escalate the tension in the WPS.
Following this, the number of Chinese vessels in the WPS has decreased, according to the Philippine Navy.
Recently, the two countries also reached an understanding on an arrangement on rotation and resupply missions to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal to avoid confrontations in the future.
Unlike in the previous missions, no untoward incident was reported in the Philippines’ first resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal last July 27 under the new deal with China.
China pushes a massive claim in the South China Sea including the portion the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea.
The SCS is a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Aside from the Philippines, China has overlapping claims in the area with Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.
In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China’s claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had “no legal basis.” China has not recognized the decision. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
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