The sail took place in the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s name for South China Sea waters that lie within its exclusive economic zone.
The day-long activity participated by warships of the Philippine Navy’s BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), BRP Emilio Jacinto (PS35), one AW109 helicopter, and Philippine Air Force Search and Rescue (SAR) assets, United States’ USS Howard (DDG83) and two helicopters, Australia’s HMAS Sydney (D48), a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, and one helicopter.
Japan, which earlier expressed concern about China’s actions, sent their JS Sazanami (DD113) while New Zealand used their HMNZS Aotearoa (A-11). JS Sazanami passed through the Taiwan Strait on September 25, on its way to the West Philippine Sea for the joint drills. This marked the first time a JMSDF vessel saile through one of the world’s most contentious straits in East Asia.
During the activity, ships of participating navies conducted pre-sail briefings, communication exercises, cross-deck exercises, division tactics/officer of the watch drills, photographic exercises, replenishment at sea approaches, maritime domain awareness exercises, and contact reporting, all designed to refine operational readiness and collaborative capabilities.
Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr said:
“This underscores our shared commitments to upholding the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace, as well as respect for maritime rights under international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,”
The joint sails were envisioned in 2022 and 2023 to bring foreign partners into the South China Sea and Luzon Strait as a show of support.
In August last year, Japan, US, Australia, and the Philippines had the same naval drills in the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines, China, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam have competing claims in the South China Sea.
In recent months, Beijing has been accused of employing aggressive ‘grey-zone’ tactics to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea, including firing water cannons and high-intensity lasers at Philippine vessels, in an effort to gain control of the disputed waters without triggering open conflict.
The joint maritime patrols comes as China carried out joint naval and air exercises around the Scarborough Shoal on Saturday.
