The Philippines, United States, Japan and Australia have cited the aggressive actions of China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as added motivation for them to line up more quadrilateral maritime exercises to assert a rules-based order in the international waters.
This came after Defense Secretaries Gilberto Teodoro (Philippines), Lloyd Austin (US), Ministers Kihara Minoru (Japan) and Richard Marles (Australia) gathered in Hawaii last May 2 for their second ministerial meeting, where they discussed concerns on developments in the Indo-Pacific.
In a press conference on Saturday, Marles explained that their move to conduct more maritime exercises “is about the assertion of a global rules-based order,” a way in which their countries can work together.
The meeting of the defense chiefs from the four countries followed the recently held Maritime Cooperative Activity among them, where they strengthened the interoperability of their defense and armed forces doctrines, tactics, techniques, and procedures.
On April 7, Filipino, American, Japanese and Australian troops conducted joint maritime drills in the WPS (also known as South China Sea) amid Beijing’s repeated aggression against the Philippines in the contested waters.
In the readout of their meeting that was released on Saturday, the four Defense chiefs expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas, as they also strongly objected to the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the WPS.
Austin also described as “irresponsible behavior” the actions of China, pertaining to its frequent and violent water cannon attacks, which recently injured the crew of the Philippine vessels and damaged their ships.
“They reiterated serious concern over the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China’s) repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal, which constitute dangerous and destabilizing conduct,” the readout stated.
Citing the importance of rule of law reflected on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Ruling, they vowed to work together that the rules-based order will be followed.
Because of this, they committed to bolster alliance in support of regional security and stability as they saw opportunities to further advance defense cooperation through continued maritime cooperation in the WPS, enhanced procedures to enable coordination and information sharing arrangements, and strengthening capacity building.
“We’re clear-eyed about the challenges that exist throughout the region… And so, we’ll need to continue to work together, to increase interoperability, to make sure that we share information, share intelligence,” Austin stressed.
Austin said they are looking to have more maritime exercises and activities among their countries, while Kihara said their meeting and statement “is not directed towards any specific or particular nation.”
Rather, it is towards the nations which are trying to change the status quo by force, he said.
“We also want to pursue coordinated security assistance to the Philippines that will boost interoperability and help the Philippines achieve its defense modernization goals,” the US defense secretary added.
