The Philippines ended its joint naval drills with Australia and Canada near a disputed shoal within the South China Sea on Wednesday, signaling tighter defense ties with allies within the contested waters fraught with tension.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on late Wednesday said the Philippine frigate BRP Jose Rizal, Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane and Canadian frigate Ville de Quebec passed by Scarborough Shoal, capping off the virtually two-week naval exercise that formed a part of Exercise ALON (wave) 2025.
The warships began their naval exercise off the coast of Palawan province and sailed northward, the AFP said, coinciding with the Philippines and Australia’s biggest military engagement this 12 months.
“As a key component of Exercise ALON 2025, this engagement reaffirms the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ commitment to advancing defense cooperation with like-minded nations,” it said in an announcement.
The Philippine military had said the maritime exercises were meant to uphold regional stability within the South China Sea.
China claims almost your entire South China Sea under its controversial nine-dash line — an assertion rejected by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations akin to Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, whose exclusive econom-ic zones are affected.
In 2016, the Everlasting Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, voiding China’s sweeping claims over the contested waters. Nonetheless, Beijing has refused to acknowledge the ruling and maintains a heavy presence in disputed areas, including the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
Philippine Colonel Dennis F. Hernandez, executive agent for Exercise ALON, earlier said the maritime exercise just isn’t geared toward any country, and is supposed to maintain “rules-based international order” within the disputed waters.
The Philippines has increasingly leaned on multinational cooperation to shore up its maritime defenses. It has participated in additional frequent joint patrols and multilateral naval exercises within the South China Sea, often alongside US forces and other regional partners.
Multinational military cooperation, once rare within the contested waters, is fast becoming routine. Earlier this 12 months, the Philippines conducted trilateral air and sea patrols with the US and Australia. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio