Indian Navy sails with Philippines Navy in West Philippine Sea, China Fumes silently
China claims sovereignty over all of the sea off southern coast of China and in an imperial manner calls it South China Sea. This strategy has been employed by China because this area is a huge source of hydrocarbons. However, several ASEAN member countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei, have counterclaims.
The Philippines government rightly refers to the eastern parts of the Chinese claimed Sea as the West Philippine Sea and not South China Sea. All other countries too must do the same.
India on Monday carried out a naval exercise with the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea, five days after it conducted a similar drill with Vietnam in the region that has been witnessing growing Chinese military expansionism.
While the Indian Navy deployed its guided missile destroyer INS Ranvijay and guided missile corvette INS Kora in the exercise, the Philippine Navy was represented by its frigate BRP Antonio Luna, officials said.
“Two ships of the Indian Navy, INS Ranvijay and INS Kora, on deployment to the Western Pacific, carried out a maritime partnership exercise with BRP Antonio Luna of the Philippine Navy on Monday in the West Philippine Sea,” Indian Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.
“The joint evolutions conducted during the exercise included several operational manoeuvers and the participating ships of both navies were satisfied with the consolidation of interoperability achieved through this operational interaction at sea,” he said.
“Both navies remain committed to further strengthening bilateral collaboration in the maritime domain towards a collective aim of ensuring a stable, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” the Indian Navy spokesperson said.
The two Indian naval ships are currently deployed to the Western Pacific with an aim to strengthen maritime security collaboration with partner nations.
“The interaction with BRP Antonio Luna was an enriching opportunity for the Indian Navy to consolidate its bilateral relations with the Philippine Navy,” Commander Madhwal said.
The defence and security cooperation between India and the Philippines is on an upswing in the last few years.
Earlier the Indian and Vietnamese navies carried out a naval exercise in the area further down south of West Philippine Sea which is called either Vietnam Sea or Natuna Sea. on August 18.
Seeing all this Chinese Navy must be fuming silently. Let’s see if they try anything rash. The same will be fully reciprocated to their actions in rest of the Indian Ocean.
