By Thai Newsroom Reporters
HISTORIC, JOINT MARITIME exercises conducted by the United States and three treaty allies with five warships and two combat aircraft in the South China Sea over the weekend have yielded satisfactory results, according to a US navy officer.
The joint maritime drills between the US, Australian, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence and Philippine navies were primarily designed to discourage China from using force and coercion in the tension-filled South China Sea and other parts of the Western Pacific region, said US Seventh Fleet spokesperson Lt Luka Bakic.
The joint naval exercises conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone primarily featured tactical interoperability among the participating naval forces whilst a few Chinese warships shadowed as closely as seven nautical miles away, Lt Bakic said.
No untoward incidents were reported during the joint maritime drills showcasing the US and allies’ shared determination to uphold international rights to the freedom of navigation in the high seas.
The joint maritime drills practically demonstrated shared solidarity and coordination among the US and the superpower’s treaty allies in the Western Pacific region, albeit under close vigils of the dogging Chinese naval forces.
Taking part in the joint maritime exercises – the first of its kind between the four treaty nations – were the US navy’s USS Mobile littoral combat ship, Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, the Australian navy’s HMAS Warramunga destroyer and P-8A patrol and recon plane, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force’s JS Akebono destroyer and the Philippine navy’s BRP Antonio Luna frigate and BRP Valentin Diaz patrol ship.
The historic drills came up amidst sustained tensions near Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea where the Philippine and Chinese Coast Guard vessels had intermittently engaged in provocations and standoffs.
Chinese naval ships had intercepted and blocked passage for Philippine vessels on resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal where Philippine troops were stationed at a grounded ship named BRP Sierra Madre.
Besides, Chinese Coast Guard ships had fired water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard vessels off Scarborough Shoal in blatant provocation to the Philippine navy patrolling in the island republic’s exclusive economic zone.
China has unilaterally claimed territorial sovereignty over most submerged reefs and islets in the South China Sea despite 2016’s international tribunal’s ruling against it.
CAPTIONS:
Top: USS Mobile (LCS-26), HMAS Warramunga (FFH-152), JS Akebono (DD-108), BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (PS-15), BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) and BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) sail in formation off the coast within the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone on April 7, 2024. Photo: Royal Australian Navy and published by USNI
Front Page:A Filipino port worker looks as the Japanese Ship JS Akebono (DD-108), a Murasame-class destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, prepares to dock for a goodwill visit at Manila’s south harbour, Philippines on Sept. 27, 2018. File photo: AP/Aaron Favila and published by Yahoo!News
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