Five allied navies conduct training drills amid massive Chinese military exercise.
Five countries’ armed forces held joint naval exercises in parts of the South China Sea on Saturday, while China held its own military drills in the disputed waterway.
The Philippine Army said in a statement that the drills, conducted in Manila’s exclusive economic zone and involving the Philippines, the United States, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand for the first time, were aimed at improving interoperability between the two countries’ militaries.
He added that Saturday’s drills included Philippine warships, the USS Howard aircraft carrier, the Japanese ship JS Sazanami, and the New Zealand ship HMNZS Aotearoa.
Australia’s Department of Defence said the exercise demonstrated “our collective commitment to strengthening regional and international cooperation to support peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific”.
The exercise follows a series of air and sea clashes between the Philippines and China over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Sandbar, one of Asia’s most hotly contested formations. The Chinese coast guard has occupied the sandbar for more than a decade.
On Wednesday, New Zealand and Australian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait, part of the South China Sea.
China, which claims to rule Taiwan democratically, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait. The United States and Taiwan say the strait is an international waterway and a major trade route through which about half of the world’s container ships pass.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that Australia “continues to put pressure on China on the issue of peace and stability in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.”
“We welcome the resumption of dialogue at the military level and at the leadership level between the United States and China,” Wong said, according to the text.
The Chinese air and naval forces exercised in the disputed waters hours after China’s top diplomat discussed ways to ease regional tensions with his American counterpart.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, angering its neighbors, although Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam also have overlapping maritime claims.
