{"id":1066064,"date":"2023-06-01T19:35:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T19:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/southchinasea\/benar-trilateral-exercises-06012023153200.html"},"modified":"2023-06-01T19:35:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T19:35:13","slug":"philippines-japan-us-coast-guards-kick-off-first-trilateral-sea-exercises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/06\/01\/philippines-japan-us-coast-guards-kick-off-first-trilateral-sea-exercises\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines, Japan, US coast guards kick off first trilateral sea exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

The coast guards of defense allies the Philippines, United States and Japan kicked off their first-ever joint drills Thursday in waters adjacent to the South China Sea amid tensions with Beijing in that contested maritime region.<\/span><\/p>\n

The weeklong Kaagapay (Side-by-Side) Exercises 2023 were inaugurated when the respective American and Japanese coast guard ships, the Stratton and the Akitsushima, docked at Manila\u2019s South Harbor during the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The drills, scheduled through June 7, will involve exercises in maritime law enforcement, maritime security and safety, search and rescue, as well as environmental protection, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the exercises will take place in the municipality of Mariveles, along the Bataan Peninsula near the South China Sea, Philippine Coast Guard Vice Adm. Rolando Punzalan Jr. said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Coast Guard and Japan Coast Guard have been assisting us in our human resource development program, particularly in law enforcement training. This is a good opportunity to thank and show them what our personnel learned from their programs,\u201d Punzalan said in a speech during the welcoming ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diplomats and officials from the three countries were on hand for the ships\u2019 arrival. It occurred two days after the American military accused China of carrying out a dangerously aggressive maneuver in the skies above the South China Sea when a Chinese fighter jet flew close and across the flight path of a\u00a0<\/span>U.S. reconnaissance plane<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chinese government has since responded by accusing the U.S. of fanning tensions through provocative actions such as sending reconnaissance flights over the disputed waters. Beijing described these as a threat to its sovereignty and security, according to reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

The unprecedented trilateral drills are happening more than a month after the Philippines and the U.S. held their biggest annual\u00a0<\/span>Balikatan<\/span><\/a>\u00a0joint exercises in the coastal town of San Antonio in Zambales, a province that also faces the South China Sea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The current drills also follow an announcement by\u00a0<\/span>Manila and Tokyo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that they would boost defense ties.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1922059d-d26f-423b-a450-5d3319c63417.jpeg\"\n
The Akitsushima (PLH-32), a Japan Coast Guard ship, is pictured after it docked at Manila\u2019s South Harbor, June 1, 2023. (Jeoffrey Maitem\/BenarNews)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Kenichi Matsuda, the interim charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires at the Japanese embassy who was on hand, affirmed his government\u2019s support for the trilateral drills and underscored what he said was the \u201cshared history\u201d among the three countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will concretely advance cooperation with the Philippines to bolster maritime security capabilities and freedom of navigation,\u201d Matsuda said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Japan, as a maritime nation, \u201chas a stake to uphold and protect rules-based maritime order,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been helping the Philippine Coast Guard with its modernization. This includes a loan for the PCG\u2019s two capital ships, the 97-meter (318-foot) multi-role response ships BRP Teresa Magbanua and BRP Melchora Aquino, which are among the ships that will participate in the trilateral exercises.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis first tri-lateral engagement between the coast guards of these nations will provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen global maritime governance through professional exchanges and combined operations,\u201d said Capt. Brian Krautler, the U.S. Coast Guard commander of the Stratton.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTogether we\u2019ll demonstrate professional, rules-based standards of maritime operations with our steadfast partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast to remarks from the Japanese and American officials, PCG spokesman Armand Balilo played down the drills, saying these were not meant to deter China.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a coast guard exercise on maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, that\u2019s all,\u201d Balilo told reporters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis has nothing to do with the issues in the West Philippine Sea,\u201d he added, referring to waters claimed by Manila in the South China Sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

China has competing claims in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines and against Beijing\u2019s sweeping \u201cnine-dash line,\u201d but China has since refused to acknowledge the ruling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.<\/em><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \n \n


\r\nThis content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia<\/a> and was authored by By Jeoffrey Maitem and Camille Elemia for BenarNews.
<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current drills also follow an announcement by Manila and Tokyo that they would boost defense ties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27709,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2242,5092,11888,42796,42620,36281,1739,60545,44707,796,785,27149,4795,27150,60546],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066065,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066064\/revisions\/1066065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}