The maritime cooperative activity (MCA) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Australian Defence Force (ADF) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) officially concluded on Monday, Nov. 27.
AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the three-day MCA, which was highlighted by a joint patrol by Filipino and Australian troops, was "successful" despite the shadowing of Chinese vessels and aircraft.
"Our initial assessment of the maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines and Australia is that it was very successful because there were no untoward incidents. Nothing bad happened, no injury was sustained. More importantly we were able to achieve the objectives that we set out to achieve through this joint activity," Brawner said.
On the first day of the MCA on Nov. 25, Chinese vessels were monitored by the AFP shadowing Philippine Navy (PN) vessels BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Davao Del Sur, and Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Toowoomba in the WPS.
Meanwhile, two Chinese fighter aircraft also orbited a Philippine Air Force (PAF) Super Tucano A-29B aircraft for 15 minutes when it flew over WPS on Nov. 26. The PAF aircraft completed its flight route with no untoward incident.
Brawner said the orbiting of Chinese aircraft was no longer unusual as it also conducted the same tactic on a US and Japanese aircraft back in May in the South China Sea.
"This is not the first time that this happened. Mukhang ito na 'yung nagiging taktika ng Tsina over the South China Sea (It appears this has become a tactic of China over the South China Sea)," Brawner noted.
The military chief admitted he does not know what message China was trying to send to the Philippines when it deployed its air force while PAF was conducting an aerial patrol in the WPS.
"We don't know what they are trying to send to us but for us, it is very clear that what we are doing are legitimate operations because we have all the right to patrol our territorial seas and our exclusive economic zone (EEZ). That is exactly what we are doing but this time, we are doing it with our allies and our partners," Brawner stressed.
Brawner said the possibility of maritime or aerial collision is always present with the dangerous maneuvers being conducted by China.
He, however, emphasized that it will not stop the AFP from doing the patrol operations since it is the military's responsibility to protect the country's territorial seas and EEZ.
"Aside from that, we are also protecting our fishermen who are in the West Philippine Sea," he added.
The MCA between the Philippines and Australia followed an earlier MCA by the AFP and the United States Indo-Pacific Command on the same week.
Department of National Defense (DND) Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr. dismissed Chinese media's supposed attempt to laugh off the MCAs by the Philippines, US, and Australia.
"If they laugh it off, they laugh off significant initiatives according to international law and rules-based international order. I[t] is to their detriment you know. I mean, they are just saying that they were the big bully here and try to, you know, anger us whatnot. That's not the way we're doing things," he said.
Brawner and Teodoro both agreed that joint patrols in the WPS will be a "sustainable endeavor" by the AFP with its foreign allies.
"The joint maritime and air patrols with our allies and our partners will continue on. Hindi lang po natin ngayon alam 'yung frequency (We just don't know how frequent it will be) and also maybe the extent of our patrols but we are working on that," Brawner said.
"It is a sustainable endeavor that's why we entered into it in the first place. We do not enter into unsustainable initiatives and, hence, the phase and the tempo is based on the strategic guidance of the President [Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] My main job is to make it sustainable and the armed forces' job is to make it operationally secure and operationally efficient and effective," Teodoro shared.