MANILA – There is no reason to be concerned over the presence of Chinese naval vessels in the first-ever multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) among the Philippines, Australia, Canada, and the United States in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Not a cause of concern. We are also monitoring them. If they monitor us, we also monitor them,” Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson for the WPS, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, said in an interview with reporters on Thursday afternoon.
He also called the presence of these naval vessels “dubious and inappropriate.”
Earlier reports said three People’s Liberation Army Navy ships – one Jiangkai class frigate, the Huangshan with number 570, and two Jiangdao class corvettes with bow numbers 668 and 626, were spotted following the MMCA flotilla.
The distances of these ships varied from 4 nautical miles to 8 nautical miles from the MMCA naval formation.
The four nations’ MMCA was set from Wednesday to Thursday.
In a separate message, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, said the MMCA ended “past 6 p.m.” Thursday. No other details were provided for security reasons.
Trinidad also clarified that the MMCA was not a show of force to any particular country but a show of the four nations’ commitment to upholding international law.
He, meanwhile, said Filipinos could expect more multilateral maritime drills with the country’s allies.
The MMCA featured various naval and air assets of the participating countries.
The Philippine contingent included the BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), along with its AW-159 anti-submarine helicopter and the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16).
Australia deployed a P-8A “Poseidon” maritime patrol aircraft while Canada sent the HMCS Montreal (FFH-336) and a Sikorsky CH-148 “Cyclone” helicopter.
The US, meanwhile, deployed the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and a Sikorsky MH-60R “Seahawk” helicopter.
The MMCA covered a series of events designed to enhance interoperability among the participating forces, such as pre-sail briefing, communication exercise, division tactics/officer of the watch maneuver, photographic exercise, cross deck landing operations, anti-submarine warfare exercise, replenishment at sea, contact reporting/maritime domain awareness, and a final exercise. (PNA)