PH Navy welcomes Indo-Pacific deployment of NATO task force
A multi-national task force composed of service members from countries belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is sailing to the Indo-Pacific region soon in response to China’s growing aggression, according to a ranking Philippine Navy (PN) officer.
The task force includes an aircraft carrier from Great Britain and military forces from NATO countries in Europe and North America, said PN spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad.
“A British task force is coming with an aircraft carrier. It’s a NATO task force so it includes different countries of NATO. They deployed their vessels and they will be coming to the Indo-Pacific,” Trinidad said Sunday, May 25.
Trinidad did not disclose the exact arrival date of the NATO task force but said the PN welcomes its deployment to the Indo-Pacific. He highlighted that it would mark the first time an international task force from Europe would send an aircraft carrier to the region.
“It’s no longer the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] that is involved here, it’s already the whole world standing against China, against the Chinese Communist Party, telling them that we will support the stand of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea, we will support international law in the West Philippine Sea,” Trinidad stated.
According to the United Kingdom of Great Britain’s Royal Navy, nearly 4,000 British personnel will support the eight-month deployment that began last month when aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales departed from Portsmouth in England’s south coast on April 22.
Trinidad hinted that the NATO task force could participate in a multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Let’s just wait for things to unfold. We do not announce in advance our operations but the moment that these are finalized, we will have a public affairs release for that,” he said.
Pattern of aggression
Meanwhile, the PN admiral observed that whenever the AFP sails with allied countries in the WPS, a new incident of Chinese harassment would follow.
Trinidad cited the sixth bilateral MCA of the AFP with the United States last May 20 which was immediately followed by the firing of a water cannon and sideswiping of a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel by a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship near Pag-asa Cay 2 (Sandy Cay) on May 21.
“The pattern that we have observed is whenever we have multilateral or bilateral maritime cooperative activity, it will be followed by a water cannon attack. If there’s another country performing an MCA with us, the [Chinese] are behave. But after the MCA, they will perform an aggressive action,” Trinidad said.
Trinidad warned that the Chinese Communist Party should stop intimidating Filipino forces as they would not back down in a fight.
“Ang Pilipino over history tayo ang isa sa pinakamabait na tao. But on the other hand, tayo naman ang isa sa pinakamabangis kapag inapakan ‘yung ating karapatan. So pinapakita natin sa Chinese Communist Party eh wag niyo kaming basta bastahin sapagkat look at our history, we do not back down from challenges to our rights (Over history, the Filipinos are one of the kindest people. But on the other hand, we are also one of the fiercest if you trample on our rights. So we are showing to the Chinese Communist Party that you should not belittle us because if you look at history, we do not back down from challenges to our rights),” he said.
Nonetheless, he said the joint sails by the PN with other allied nations would continue despite the aggression of China.
According to the Navy, three were only three MCAs in 2023, and 10 in 2024.
“For this year, we had eight or nine MCAs already and we’ve not yet reached half of the year. So these activities will keep increasing,” Trinidad said.