The Philippines extended the reach of a series of naval exercises designed to contest Chinese maritime pressure to the country’s northernmost islands near Taiwan while drilling alongside U.S. and Japanese forces last week.
A maritime cooperative activity (MCA) – also known as a joint patrol – was held last week in the South China Sea and the northern provinces and Luzon Strait, a strategic first island chain chokepoint separating the Philippines and Taiwan. The expansion of the drills to the waters off Northern Luzon is a first for the Philippines, as Manila takes steps to address its position in a potential cross strait conflict between Beijing and Taipei.
American forces joined the patrol with USS Dewey (DDG-105) and a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Philippine forces included the Navy frigate BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) and Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang (OPV-8301). The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force deployed a P-3 Orion for an aerial patrol with Philippine Air Force fighters near Batanes, an archipelago located 120 miles south of Taiwan.
Japanese news outlet Kyodo reported the presence of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy destroyer near the drills. China maintains a significant naval presence near Manila’s territorial waters and at various maritime features in its territorial dispute with the Philippines. The PLA Southern Theater Command also holds counter joint patrol exercises with warships and aircraft during Philippine naval activities.
The Philippines’ exercise series initially began in 2023 alongside the U.S. in a move to demonstrate allied support amid increasingly escalatory incidents by Beijing in the South China Sea.
Philippine military and political leadership have raised concerns over a potential spillover due to repatriation efforts and the strategic nature of its territories near Taiwan. Since 2022, the Philippines has expanded military activities with the U.S. to include Marine Corps anti-ship missile deployments and island defense operations. Drills in the Batanes have become a staple of recent Balikatan exercises, reorienting the premier U.S.-Philippine military exercise from the South China Sea to the Luzon Strait.
The drills last week occurred shortly after a meeting between American and Philippine officials that established the Southeast Asian treaty ally’s increasingly important role in Washington’s first island chain deterrence plans against China via missile and drone deployments. Strategic areas along the archipelagic chain have been identified as crucial under recent U.S national defense and security strategies.
“This seems like a logical expansion of the MCAs to the northern approaches to the Philippines,” Gregory Poling, director of the Center for Strategic International Studies’ Southeast Asia Program, told USNI News.
“It follows the same logic as expanding U.S.-Philippines air and ground exercises in northern Luzon and Batanes in recent years,” said Poling. “All three countries view the East China Sea, South China Sea and waters around Taiwan as a single maritime theater across which China is engaging in coercion.”
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