India and the Philippines have staged their first joint sail and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea.
The two-day joint military deployment that kicked off on Sunday is likely to anger China, which claims nearly the entire key waterway and has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian countries.
Philippine Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr said on Monday that the joint sail took place inside his country’s exclusive economic zone.
“We did not experience any untoward incidents, but there are still those shadowing us – as we had already expected,” Brawner told reporters, without naming China.
In past joint patrols with other foreign navies, Chinese navy and coastguard ships have kept watch from a distance, according to the Philippine military.
Indian navy ships that took part included guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, tanker INS Shakti and corvette INS Kiltan. The Philippines deployed two frigates, BRP Miguel Malvar and BRP Jose Rizal.
The exercise coincided with President Ferdinand Marcos’s departure for a five-day trip to India, where he said he would look to deepen maritime ties and seek cooperation on sectors including defence, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
Brawner, meanwhile, expressed hope that Filipino forces could engage India’s military in more joint manoeuvres in the future.
The drill “sends a powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific”, he said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that territorial and maritime disputes should be resolved between the countries directly involved, and no third party should intervene.
In response to a question last week about the Philippines’ plans to build up military cooperation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense called the country a “troublemaker” that has aligned itself with foreign forces to stir up trouble, in what China deems its own territorial waters.
“China never wavers in its resolve and will safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and take resolute countermeasures against any provocations by the Philippine side,” spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang had told reporters.
The South China Sea is a strategic shipping route where $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce takes place.
A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal found China’s sweeping claims have no basis under international law, a decision Beijing rejects.
