PH, US start joint maritime drills for Balikatan 2025

The Philippines and the United States on Thursday kicked off their multilateral maritime event (MME) as part of their annual Balikatan joint military exercises.

In a statement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the joint maritime drills focus on boosting the interoperability and coordination between the allied nations within the country’s archipelagic waters.

The MME is being held from Subic Bay up to northern Luzon and will run until April 29.

Amid the activity, Philippine Navy spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said there were a total of nine Chinese vessels seen around northern Luzon.

These include the aircraft carrier Shandong, six warships, and two support vessels from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China.

Trinidad said, “This was one of the larger or unusual formations we have monitored.”

“They were monitored first roughly hundred nautical miles northwest of Burgos, Ilocos Norte and we kept monitoring them until they were almost within the bounds of our [Exclusive Economic Zone] on the western part of Cagayan as yesterday evening,” he said.

“The closest to our islands in the north was roughly three nautical miles while this is quite close but these are allowed under UNCLOS under the right of innocent passage provided that it is continuous and expeditious,” he added.

Photo from AFP

The Philippine Navy issued a radio challenge to the warships but did not receive any reply, according to Trinidad.

Tensions continue as Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Parts of the South China Sea that fall within Philippine territory have been renamed by the government as West Philippine Sea to reinforce the country’s claim.

The West Philippine Sea refers to the maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine archipelago including Luzon Sea and the waters around, within and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis."

China has refused to recognize the decision.

Photo from AFP

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called out the Philippines for its military drills with the US.

“The Philippines chose to conduct the large-scale military drills with this country outside the region and brought in strategic and tactical weapons to the detriment of regional strategic stability and regional economic prospects, which puts them on the opposite side of regional countries,” he said.

“China firmly opposes any country using the Taiwan question as an excuse to strengthen military deployment in the region, heighten tensions and confrontation, and disturb regional peace and stability,” he added.

The Chinese official also warned that “those who play with fire will perish by it.”

China has been conducting military drills around Taiwan. China insists that democratic Taipei was part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.

Beijing has boosted the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to push its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.

According to the Chinese military, the military drills were aimed at sending a "stern warning and forceful deterrence" to alleged separatists in Taiwan. —VAL, GMA Integrated News