By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
THE Philippines held joint naval drills within the contested South China Sea with the US and Japan last week, the Philippine military said on Sunday, just over every week since China unveiled its most advanced carrier.
In a press release, the Philippine military said its frigates BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna were joined by the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warships for a two-day exercise from Nov. 14 to fifteen alongside the Japanese destroyer JS Akebono within the disputed waterway.
“These engagements highlight not only the Philippines’ steadfast resolve to defend its maritime domains but in addition its shared commitment with partners to strengthen deterrence, enhance interoperability and uphold freedom of navigation under a rules-based international order within the Indo-Pacific,” the armed forces said.
Last week’s anti-submarine warfare and maritime domain awareness drills were the eighth round of what the Philippines calls “multilateral maritime cooperative activities” (MMCA) this yr, and the 13th since its inception.
“The continuing MMCA series reflects its commitment to safeguarding the nation’s sovereign rights and advancing collective defense readiness alongside trusted partners,” it said.
The USS Nimitz carrier strike group has been within the South China Sea since late October, when the US Pacific Fleet reported that a fighter jet and a military helicopter crashed during “routine operations.”
The crashes, which happened inside half-hour of one another, took place in one among the world’s most contested waterways, where tensions between the Philippines and China proceed to simmer over contesting sea claims.
The multinational exercises took place greater than every week after China unveiled its third and most advanced carrier by far, which analysts said could embolden Beijing to grow to be more assertive within the disputed waterway and should challenge US naval dominance within the contested region.
The 316-meter Fujian is predicted to increase Beijing’s naval reach and strengthen its power projection within the Pacific, they said, as maritime tensions with the Philippines and its allies escalate over contesting claims.
“The Fujian attests to China’s growing naval ambitions to project muscular power and assert its 10-dash line claim,” said Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, referring to Beijing’s sweeping and disputed claim over much of the South China Sea.
China now operates three aircraft carriers, with its first two modeled on older Soviet-era designs, as it really works to shut the gap with US naval might within the region.
Commissioned in early November, the Fujian is able to carrying greater than 50 aircraft, starting from advanced fighter jets and early warning system planes. The ceremony was held within the military stronghold of Hainan province facing the South China Sea and was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The brand new carrier is unquestionably a part of Beijing’s power projection strategy,” Sherwin E. Ona, a security analyst and associate professor on the De La Salle University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
A People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-Navy spokesman said last week the Fujian is predicted to make “regular appearances” at sea. China asserts sweeping control over the South China Sea, where tensions with the Philippines and other claimant states persist despite a 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed court that voided its overreaching claim.
Manila has described China’s actions within the waterway as coercive and escalatory, while Beijing insists its operations are supposed to defend its sovereignty.
“Fujian empowers the PLA-Navy to accentuate surveillance, assert air superiority and increase gray-zone pressure against its regional rivals,” Raymond M. Powell, director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency group focused on the South China Sea, said in a Facebook chat.
“Its operational presence will further embolden China to escalate confrontations,” he added, noting the Fujian will allow China to further complicate Philippine resupply operations.
While it marks a “very significant step,” Mr. Powell noted it’ll still take “a few years” before China’s aircraft carrier could rival those of the US Navy.
Fujian has a full-load displacement of over 80,000 metric tons and is supplied with an electromagnetic catapult system just like the USS Gerald R. Ford, the US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier.
“It provides the PLA-N with the flexibility to launch greater and heavier aircraft. It also allows for more air wings in comparison with the primary two carriers,” Mr. Ona said.
Still, the brand new aircraft carrier will undergo “in-depth test verification” as a lot of its systems and technologies are being trialed for the primary time, a Chinese navy spokesman said. The ship was “independently designed and built by China,” based on a report posted on the Fujian provincial government, the carrier’s namesake.
“It’s still limited should you compare it with the US Navy’s capability. Nevertheless, it reinforces its regional power projection, especially within the South and East China Seas, said Mr. Ona.
China could possibly be constructing its next aircraft carrier already, with construction happening at a dry dock in Liaoning province within the country’s northeast, in accordance with a South China Morning Post report.
ASYMMETRIC WARFARE CAPABILITIES
Mr. Cabalza said this military buildup will grow to be more apparent because the Philippines enter into more defense agreements with Western and Asian powers.
The Southeast Asian nation has stepped up efforts to beat back against China’s sweeping sea claims by expanding its web of alliances beyond the US, its long-standing treaty ally. It has forged visiting forces agreements with Australia, Latest Zealand, and most recently, Canada, alongside an analogous cope with Japan.
The Philippines should concentrate on shoring up its asymmetric warfare capabilities by investing in unmanned systems like drones to counter China’s naval might within the region, Mr. Powell said.
“Ukraine’s example proves that with adaptable, reasonably priced tech and smart tactics, a smaller military can impose real costs on a more powerful aggressor and make large conventional platforms much less effective,” he said.
“Manila needs multi-faceted strategy from coastal and naval modernization, expansion of alliance systems and management, to increased dialogue with Beijing as each countries will play influential roles next yr,” Mr. Cabalza said.
Mr. Ona said Philippine forces must also ramp up its joint naval patrols and exercises with allies within the South China Sea to bolster deterrence within the waterway.