Philippines, US, Japan to hold drills in disputed waters
The Philippines is scheduled to hold concurrent naval drills next week with its key allies, the United States and Japan, amid China's ongoing construction work on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
The Southeast Asian archipelago will perform annual joint maneuvers with the United States, including an advanced spy plane flight and a helicopter crash and rescue simulation, near the disputed waters, military officials said on Thursday.
Philippine navy spokesman Commander Lued Lincuna said that in the same week, military exercises will be staged with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force separately.
Lincuna did not provide details of the upcoming exercise, which will be the second of the joint Philippines-Japan drills.
However, according to Japanese media, the drill will be staged in the South China Sea and would field a P3 surveillance aircraft.
“The joint training will help capacitate and familiarize our troops with modern equipment. There will be sharing of information, techniques and best practices on the tactical level,” Lincuna said.
He added that the exercises were not planned to target China, which has allegedly continued construction work in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea, also claimed by the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said that “they are regularly planned and scheduled exercises. With Japan, the focus is on search and rescue and disaster relief.”
China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea overlap with those of Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.
Last month, the Philippines staged landmark naval drills with Japan in the South China Sea, nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from a Philippine-claimed shoal now under Chinese control.
Philippine Defense Department spokesman Peter Galvez said that according to the country’s military surveillance, Beijing has potentially wider military reach, with a “75-percent complete” giant runway on one of the reefs.
Washington sides with its regional allies in the East Asian maritime disputes and does not recognize China’s sovereignty in the disputed areas.
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