July 22, 2024
MANILA – The coast guards of the Philippines and Vietnam are in talks on holding their first joint exercises in August as the two Southeast Asian nations explore ways to settle their overlapping claims while grappling with China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea.
A 2,400-ton vessel of the Vietnam Coast Guard will be in Manila for a goodwill visit from Aug. 5 to 9 amid a series of engagements with their Philippine counterparts, a diplomatic source told the Inquirer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to speak to the press.
Part of the visit is the proposed holding of a joint exercise on search and rescue and fire and explosion prevention that will be finalized during the Vietnamese coast guard’s visit, the source added.
READ: PH open to Vietnam talks on overlapping sea claims
The planned exercises follow the two memoranda of understanding covering “incident prevention in the South China Sea” and “maritime cooperation among coast guards” signed during the state visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Vietnam in January.
Defense officials from the Philippines and Vietnam will hold regular meetings in Manila this week to discuss “closer defense cooperation.”
Both the Philippines and Vietnam are among the claimants in the South China Sea, along with Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan. China, however, claims nearly the entire strategic waterway. Both Manila and Hanoi have endured incidents with Beijing in the South China Sea.
A 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, but Beijing refuses to acknowledge the decision.
Overlapping claims
Last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was also ready to hold talks with Vietnam to settle their overlapping claims after Hanoi filed a claim to an extended continental shelf in the South China Sea before the United Nations last July 17.
“We acknowledge Vietnam’s right as a coastal state like the Philippines to submit information to establish the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the relevant and lawful baselines from which its territorial sea is measured, as provided for under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos),” the DFA said.
“We are ready to engage Vietnam on possible ways forward that would help achieve a mutually beneficial solution to South China Sea issues, in accordance with international law, particularly Unclos,” the department said.
It added that it is ready to engage with Vietnam on possible ways to achieve a “mutually beneficial solution to South China Sea issues.”
Manila made a similar move a month earlier, when it made a claim for an extended continental shelf in the West Palawan region of the South China Sea that could overlap with Vietnam’s and Malaysia’s claims.
On June 18, a day after the Philippine filing, Beijing submitted its opposition to the Philippines’ claim before the UN’s Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Series of engagements
The Philippines and Vietnam have long been cooperating at sea.
On July 10, the Vietnam People’s Navy hosted the Philippine Navy at Southwest Cay (Pugad) Island in the West Philippine Sea for a series of engagements as part of a regular friendship exchange.
“The regular conduct of this personnel interaction provides an avenue to foster and sustain the good relationship between the two navies, building lasting friendships and cooperative efforts in addressing mutual maritime concerns,” the Philippine Navy said.
In September 2023, units from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) held their first-ever joint military drills in Indonesia’s South Natuna Sea.
The September 18-25 non-combat operation was aimed at developing military skills, including maritime security and patrols, and the distribution of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the Indonesian military said in a statement.
All 10 countries of the Asean joined the exercise, including prospective member East Timor.
The drills were relocated to the South Natuna Sea in Indonesian waters instead of the initial plans for them to take place in the southernmost waters of the South China Sea, which were also claimed by China.
Also in the same month, it was reported that the Philippine Navy held weeklong maritime exercises with the Royal Malaysian Navy in Davao City to enhance combined planning, tactical and operational level training, and level up interoperability.
The drills, which took place on September 4-8, involved sailors and naval special operations forces from the Philippines and Malaysia operating jointly on land, air, and sea.