US, Japan join Philippines in South China Sea drills
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- The Philippines, US, and Japan held five-day maritime exercises from July 21 to 25 in the South China Sea, deploying warships, coast guard vessels, surveillance and fighter aircraft to improve interoperability, the Philippine military said on Sunday.
- The drills began a day after the Philippines said Chinese Coast Guard personnel struck a Filipino sailor with a baton at Second Thomas Shoal; China countered that Philippine vessels attacked first and rammed Chinese boats.
- During the exercises, the Philippine Coast Guard reported Chinese vessels fired water cannon at Philippine government ships near Scarborough Shoal on Thursday and Friday, with China saying it took "legal measures" after Philippine vessels "insisted on intruding."
- Philippines armed forces chief of staff Antonio Nafarrete visited Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the Spratly Islands on Saturday, about 300 miles west of Palawan, telling troops they were vital to guarding the outpost and pledging to strengthen operational capabilities.
- China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and rejects a 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated those claims; Chinese navy and coast guard vessels have operated in the area during previous joint drills.
- The exercises are the latest in a series of joint drills that have expanded in scope and frequency as the Philippines, backed by the US and Japan, pushes back against China's sweeping maritime claims.
Why it matters: The drills coincided with two separate flashpoints — a baton strike at Second Thomas Shoal and water-cannon blasts at Scarborough Shoal — making this iteration of US-Japan-Philippines exercises the most pointed response yet to a specific pattern of Chinese coast guard use of force within the same week.
