Canada joins allies for military drills off disputed South China Sea shoal
Global News
The Philippines said the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec joined Philippine and Australian warships and aircraft for drills near the Scarborough Shoal.
Canada, Australia and the Philippines deployed three warships and aircraft Wednesday for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships.
The Philippine military said the naval drills east of the Scarborough Shoal were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off the northwestern Philippines for years.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills but they have repeatedly warned that they would defend the shoal and outlying waters, which they claim as Beijing’s territory, at all cost.
China and the Philippines claim Scarborough and other islands, islets and reefs in the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay overlapping claims in the busy waterway, a key global trade route.
The United States has no claims but has questioned China’s claim to virtually the entire sea passage, including to Scarborough. Two U.S. warships sailed off the shoal this month to promote freedom of navigation and were shadowed by a Chinese navy ship.
Sailing from a western Philippine province, the Royal Australian Navy’s guided-missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane, Canadian navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec and a Philippine navy guided-missile frigate BRP Jose Rizal conducted exercises east of the shoal, including the “air defense exercise that honed the participants’ capability to counter simulated aerial threats through coordinated defensive maneuvers,” the Philippine military said in a brief statement.
Video footage and photographs issued by the Philippine military show at least three fighter jets soaring in the sky during the drills while two combat helicopters separately flew near the Philippine navy frigate.
“This engagement reaffirms the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ commitment to advancing defense cooperation with like-minded nations,” it said.
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