The Philippines and United States have agreed to conduct joint maritime patrol operations in the South China Sea (SCS) to ensure peace and stability in the troubled waters.

This was announced by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on Thursday, Feb. 2, amid China’s continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), or the part of the SCS that is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

A news release from the Pentagon said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. “agreed to restart joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea” to help address shared regional security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Pentagon said that Austin and Galvez “will meet again in Spring 2023” at the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington, D.C. to further discuss the planned patrol operations.

“Both leaders agreed to look at opportunities to include other like-minded partners in cooperative defense activities,” the Pentagon said.

Calls for joint patrol operations between the two countries were mounting after a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel drove away a Filipino fishing boat in Ayungin Shoal in the WPS last month. Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez had said this will enhance the interoperability of the two countries in case a conflict arises although he clarified that such activity is not meant to antagonize a specific country.

Austin and Galvez had just concluded their bilateral meeting at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City where they reaffirmed the “unwavering” alliance between Manila and Washington, and called out China’s continuing efforts “to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea.”

To enable a “secured” exchange of information between the two defense establishments, Galvez revealed that the Philippines and United States are now working on the “timely conclusion” of a framework of cooperation. Details of the framework are yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, capability enhancement trainings between Filipino and American soldiers are seen to increase as Galvez and Austin underscored the importance of enhancing their capacity to work seamlessly together to maintain a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region and avoid the raising of tension in the SCS.

“We also encourage the continued planning and conduct of high impact and high value activities primarily to the Philippines-United States Mutual Defense Board/Security Engagement Board or MDB/SEB and other Philippines-United States cooperative mechanisms,” Galvez said.

At present, around 500 military trainings and capacity-building activities are being conducted by the Philippines and US militaries in Manila every year. This includes Exercise Balikatan, the largest Philippine-led annual training between the two countries.

For his part, Austin said that ensuring the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea has been the focus of the US government in the past “and it will remain our focus going forward.”

“The ability of nations to sail the seas, operate in international waters, and operate in international skies, I guess that’s really important and we would look for countries to respect a rules-based international order,” he shared.

Aside from the patrols, Galvez revealed that the US also committed to support the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) through the provision of equipment.

Galvez said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino requested the DND to procure assets that would enhance the military’s medium-lift capability as well as its capacity to detect coastal and submarine capabilities in the WPS.

“It’s more on the medium-lift capability like what we have bought for our disaster relief and search and rescue operations,” Galvez disclosed, referring to the 16 units of Black Hawk helicopters it acquired in 2021 and two C-130 helicopters that were donated by the US government to the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in the same year.

“We really need C-130s and also those, the Black Hawk that we reconfigured to search and rescue (SAR) capability and also in our capability to defend our maritime domain,” he added.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Martin Sadongdong

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