Japan and the Philippines held a joint military exercise in the South China Sea on the 14th, and for the first time invited Japanese and Philippine media boarding participating vessels, watching anti-submarine warfare exercises and other activities. PLA’s Southern Theater of operations organized a joint air and sea patrol in the South China Sea on the 14th, a spokesman for the Southern Theater of operations said Sunday. Theater troops maintained a high level of alert and resolutely defended the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. Any military activities that disrupted the South China Sea and created hotspots were under control.
The Japanese and Filipino Chinese Commercial News, codenamed “Maritime Co-operation Activities”, held the same day, nearly a year after the first of their kind. In May, the Japanese parliament approved a reciprocal access agreement with the Philippines, which allows Japan Self-Defense Forces to train with Philippine forces in the country and is seen as a move to strengthen defence co-operation between the two countries.
The exercise took place near the Philippine City of Luzon, the Nikkei said, the Philippine Navy’s guided-missile frigate Miguel Marwar and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Destroyer Highwave took part in the exercise. Japan’s Kyodo News Agency said this year’s exercise was anti-submarine warfare training. The exercise will simulate submarine training with the target into the water, Japan and Philippines participating ships to detect its position, and then from two ships to simulate the firing of torpedoes to the target, without live fire. At the same time, the two sides also conducted carrier-based helicopter take-off and landing drills: Philippine Navy helicopters took off from the Miguel Marval and landed on the HF.
Japan and the Philippines on the 14th for the first time to open the exercise to the media. Kyodo news agency and other Japanese and Filipino media boarded the Philippine“Miguel Marval” and visited the exercises. The Philippines, which just received the South Korean frigate this year, is the most advanced warship in active service in the Philippine Navy.
The Japanese media also said that two Chinese warships could be seen from the Miguel Marval. Filipino soldiers and other introduced that“They often in this area activities,” there is no particular need to worry about the situation.
Zhuo Hua, an international expert at the Beijing Foreign Studies University International Relations, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 15th that, the exercise is essentially one of a series of small moves by Japan and the Philippines to tighten military ties with China over the past two years. This high-profile trip to the ship with the media, the media also“Consciously” campaign, intended to mention the Chinese warship, intended to constantly strengthen the“Chinese military threat” narrative, they tried to find justification for the military collusion and collusion between the two countries. Zhuohua said Japan and the Philippines will lead to the increasing militarization of the South China Sea and impact on the security of sea lanes in the South China Sea. “All parties in the South China Sea and the international community should be highly alert to this trend of military collectivization in the region,” he said.
A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater of operations, Senior Colonel Tian Jun Li, said on the 15th that the Philippines had co-opted so-called “Joint cruises” from countries outside the region, raising security risks in the South China Sea and undermining regional peace and stability.