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The Philippines held its first joint military exercises with Japan in the South China Sea on Friday and was scheduled to conduct training maneuvers with the Vietnamese coast guard in the latest collaboration among countries that have pushed back against China’s regional assertiveness.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement that its naval drills with Japan were held in the West Philippine Sea, waters within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, which is claimed almost entirely by China.
These exercises followed similar drills between the Philippines and the United States on Wednesday, also in the West Philippine Sea.
“This activity was part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen regional and international cooperation towards realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the AFP said in a statement.
It said the drills, which involved two vessels from each side, included a communications exercise, tactical maneuvering and a photographic exercise.
The Philippines and Japan, bitter enemies during World War II, last month signed a landmark military pact allowing deployment of forces on each other’s soil.
The Philippines and Canada are negotiating a similar agreement.
The two countries and the United States signed a trilateral cooperation agreement aimed at promoting regional peace and stability early this year. China criticized the April summit of the leaders of the three nations even before the meeting got underway, saying that the grouping would be “stoking bloc confrontation” in the South China Sea.
Japan, which announced last year its biggest military build-up since the last world war in a step away from post-war pacifism, does not have any claims to the busy waterway.
But it has a separate maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea, where the neighbors have repeatedly faced off.
