Australia, Japan and the US are to conduct a joint naval exercise in a show of support for the Philippines’ stand against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Kyodo News reported on Friday.
The announcement of the drills comes amid regional tensions after Manila said a China Coast Guard ship had fired a water cannon at Philippine supply boats in the waters off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the Spratly archipelagolo (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) earlier this month, the report said, citing unnamed sources.
Taiwan also claims the islands.
Photo: AFP
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is expected to send its largest destroyer, the JS Izumo, which is slated to be refitted to become an aircraft carrier next year or the year after, Kyodo said.
The US Navy and the Australian Royal Navy would deploy the USS America and HMAS Canberra respectively, the sources were cited as saying.
The joint exercise aims to display the US’ and its allies’ commitment to upholding freedom of navigation and would feature aircraft takeoff and landing exercises from the decks of the three ships, they said.
The Philippine forces declined to take part in the exercise, as their ships cannot handle the other navies’ large warplanes, they said.
The commanders of the four navies might issue a joint statement from Manila to send a “strong message,” the sources said.
In the past few years, the Philippines has increasingly looked to the US-led security coalition for assistance in defending its waters against Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the region, Kyodo said.
In June, Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the US held their first summit involving top defense officials in Singapore to declare their intent to bolster quadrilateral security cooperation and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.
A month later, China Coast Guard vessels began to interfere with Philippine supply boats operating in the vicinity of the Second Thomas Shoal — a move that was broadly construed to be a test of the US and its regional allies’ resolve.
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