MANILA -- American and Philippine warplanes flew together in a coordinated patrol and drill above the South China Sea, in the allies’ first joint maneuvers over contested waters since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office, Filipino officials said.
The exercise, where Philippine FA-50 fighter jets flew alongside U.S. B-1 bombers in skies above the waterway, including the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal, drew a rebuke from China. Beijing said it threatened regional peace and stability.
It was the first time B-1 bombers were used for joint maneuvers in the South China Sea, the Philippine military said. The one-day exercise, staged on Tuesday, reflected the strong relations between the two longtime treaty allies, officials said.
Some security experts had said earlier that President Trump might pay less attention to Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, which has been working to shore up international support against China in the South China Sea.
“It’s the first exercise under the current administration of the U.S. government,” Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told a press briefing Tuesday.
The exercise involved two B-1 bombers attached to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces and three FA-50s from the Philippine Air Force, Col. Maria Consuelo Castillo, the PAF spokeswoman, told the same press briefing.
The B-1 is a more advanced version of the B-52 bomber, which the U.S. Air Force had deployed in previous training missions over the South China Sea, military officials said.
“This exercise is a crucial step in enhancing our interoperability, improving air domain awareness and agile combat employment and supporting our shared bilateral air objectives,” Castillo said.
Filipino officials said the exercise was not a direct response to recent Chinese military and coast guard activities in the South China Sea, where tensions have been high lately between Manila and Beijing.
Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by both countries, lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but has been under de facto Chinese control since 2012.
China: ‘On high alert’
In response, Beijing said the joint exercise was a threat to peace and stability in the waterway.
“[T]he Philippines has been colluding with countries outside the region to organize the so-called ‘joint patrols’ to deliberately undermine peace and stability in the South China Sea,” a spokesperson for China’s military said on Tuesday.
Beijing said it had also conducted a routine patrol in the airspace above Scarborough Shoal on Tuesday.
China’s air force units would remain “on high alert to resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” the spokesperson said.
Castillo said the PAF were prepared for radio challenges from China during the staging of the joint exercise, even though it proceeded “regardless of the action of other foreign actors.” As of press time, there were no reports of any such challenges.
However, there were no scenarios where the airplanes simulated dogfights, Castillo said.
“[There’s] no bombing exercise,” she said.
Under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, the Philippines and the United States are compelled to come to each other’s aid in times of external attacks. Under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, Washington said that the scenario included armed attacks in the South China Sea.
China lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea, but its claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Over the past few months, Manila and Beijing have faced off in a series of confrontations at sea.
In related news, the Philippine military accused three Chinese Navy vessels of violating rules on innocent passage during their transit in Philippine waters.
The Chinese ships – a frigate, cruiser and replenishment oiler – were first monitored in the West Philippine Sea on Monday. The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s name for South China Sea waters that lie within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The ships traveled southward and moved at a speed of six knots (11.1 kph), passing through Basilan Channel, towards Indonesia.
They were tracked by the Philippine Navy and Air Force aircraft, the military said, adding that radio challenges were also issued against the Chinese ships.
As of Tuesday morning, Trinidad said the Chinese vessels were about 120 nautical miles south of Basilan. “They are moving out of our exclusive economic zone,” he said.
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During the radio challenges, the Chinese vessels said they were exercising freedom of navigation and innocent passage, according to Trinidad.
A spokesperson for China’s military also said on Monday that the passage complied with “international law and practice.”
“The violation was that the travel through our archipelagic waters was not expeditious,” Trinidad said. “They could have traveled at a faster speed. There were instances in the central part of Sulu Sea that they slowed down to five to six knots.”
Trinidad said the Chinese vessels were likely on the way to Indonesia to take part in an upcoming military exercise, dubbed Komodo, which would involve at least 37 countries.
Apart from Indonesia and China, some of the countries involved in the Komodo exercise this month are the Philippines, the United States, Japan, Australia, France, India, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.