The US-led Maritime Training Activity Sama Sama 2023 has brought together troops from the Philippines, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, featuring more than 1,800 personnel, powerful destroyers and frigates, as well as sophisticated military equipment.
The drills, which kicked off on October 2 and will run through October 13, coincided with the escalation of tensions between Beijing and Manila over the disputed South China Sea.
The China-Philippine spat over the contested waters is nothing new; however, under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. these clashes become more frequent, in stark contrast with the era of Rodrigo Duterte, when Manila and Beijing usually found ways to settle their differences down. Per the Chinese Foreign Ministry, under Marcos, the Philippine side started to "stir up troubles" and "spread false information."
Marcos is largely seen as a pro-Western Filipino president, while Duterte is usually viewed as being more "China-friendly" by the mainstream press. In 1986, Washington helped the Filipino incumbent's father, former president Ferdinand Marcos, to flee Manila and settle in Hawaii amid the popular uprising.
Having assumed the presidency, Marcos Jr. started closing ranks with Washington and green-lighted the expansion of US military presence in the Philippines. In particular, Manila granted the US military access to four additional Philippine military bases in addition to the five existing sites.
The Pentagon is also said to be in talks to develop a port in the Filipino remote northwestern Batanes islands, which are located less than 200 km (125 miles) from Taiwan. Per international observers, the US military presence in the Batanes will allow Washington to control the Bashi Channel, which is regarded as a choke point for China naval forces moving between the Western Pacific and the South China Sea.
The ongoing naval drills are taking place off the Philippine coast and include exercises on anti-submarine, surface and air warfare, and land operations. The Chinese are watching the exercises closely.
On Saturday, the Chinese English-language media outlet Global Times issued a veiled warning to the Philippines over saber-rattling in the South China Sea together with the US and allied nations. "If the Philippines and countries outside the region including the US opt to send naval forces and escalate the current tensions in the South China Sea to a higher and more military level, China will have to send the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the media wrote, quoting Chinese military experts.
The PLA is running a military network of the Navy, the Air Force and the Rocket Force branches in the South China Sea and is always ready to safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the outlet continued, citing Chinese military observers. So, the Philippines should see what's behind the US' incitements and return to the normal track of dialogue with China instead of provocations, the media concluded.