THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it is crafting guidelines on the conduct of maritime activities, including joint patrols with allies, in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities in the disputed area, including the deployment of its coast guard and maritime militia vessels.
“The government of the Philippines is in the process of crafting guidelines for the conduct of combined maritime activities in the West Philippine Sea, including joint patrols,” the DFA said in a statement.
“Operational details, including on the possibility of engaging other regional partners, will be part of PH-US discussions within the framework of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board,” it added.
The department did not provide details like which countries will be involved, although defense officials and the country’s envoy to Washington has named the Unites States, Japan, and Australia as the allied nations Manila is working in the conduct of joint patrols in the WPS.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles have said they are eyeing joint patrols with the Philippines in the WPS.
The Japanese embassy in Manila on Wednesday said there are still no talks of conducting joint patrols with the Philippines, United States and Australia in the area but said Tokyo remains open to cooperation with its allies or partners in increasing maritime domain awareness and law enforcement in the region.
“Japan will explore the possibility of cooperating with partners to reinforce maritime domain awareness and the maritime law enforcement in the Indo-Pacific,” the embassy added.
Australia, Japan and the United States are among the countries that are most vocal in their support to the Philippines in its territorial dispute with China and has called on the latter to respect the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that junked Beijing’s massive claim in the South China Sea.
China does not recognize the ruling.
Last month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo told a security conference in Germany there were “daily incidents” of harassment or land reclamation that had been depriving the Philippines of use of its exclusive economic zone in the WPS.
