CNN –
The U.S. military began two weeks of multilateral exercises with its Philippine allies and several international partners on Monday amid rising tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
According to a U.S. Navy press release, the maritime training activity Sama Sama 2023 is the seventh and largest iteration of the exercises, with participants from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Malaysia joining the United States and the Philippines.
The exercises off the Philippine coast include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface and air warfare, and land phase exercises, the release said.
“In Tagalog, ‘Sama Sama’ is an expression that means ‘together,’ and there could be no better expression to capture the spirit of this exercise,” Capt. Sean Lewis, commodore of U.S. Navy Destroyer Squadron 7, said in the release .
“Together we can address a spectrum of security threats and improve interoperability. With participation from more nations than ever before, we can increase innovation and build a ready, unified force that ensures stability in the region,” he said.
Stability in the region is increasingly threatened by confrontations between Chinese coast guards and maritime militias and Philippine ships over disputed areas in the South China Sea.
“From territorial defense to combating transnational crimes, ‘Samasama’ [helps] We will have to face a range of threats together,” Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr. said at opening ceremonies in Manila on Monday, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
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The U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and Philippine Armed Forces joined their partners to begin the seventh exercise, “Sama Sama,” Oct. 2 in Manila.
In an exclusive interview with CNN last week, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. equated Chinese behavior in the region to that of a schoolyard bully.
Recent incidents afflicting the region include Chinese water cannons blocking supplies to a shipwrecked Philippine military outpost and a lone Filipino diver breaching a Chinese floating barrier. Earlier this year, the Philippine Coast Guard accused a Chinese coast guard ship of pointing a “military-grade” laser at some of its crew members, temporarily blinding them.
“I can’t think of a clearer case of bullying than this,” Teodoro said. “It’s not about stealing your lunch money, but rather stealing your lunch bag, your chair, and even your school enrollment.”
03:26 – Source: CNN
The Philippine president vows to defend his territory and says he is not looking for trouble.
Beijing says it is Manila that is stoking tensions.
“The current maritime conflicts between China and the Philippines are mainly caused by the Philippine side’s constant unrest and spreading false information,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry told CNN.
China says Philippine ships are encroaching on its territory in the Spratly Islands chain, although a 2016 international tribunal ruling rejected Beijing’s claim.
China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over nearly all 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many areas hundreds of miles from mainland China. In addition to the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims.
Sama Sama includes more than 1,800 soldiers from participating countries, many aboard warships from the Philippines, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. The exercises will take place in the Southern Luzon area of the Philippine Naval Force, with headquarters on the country’s Pacific coast, nearly 300 miles (480 kilometers) southeast of Manila and about 560 miles (900 kilometers) from the Spratly Islands, according to the PNA.
Sama Sama runs until October 13th.