PH, China trade barbs over military exercises in West PH Sea
Published Nov 8, 2025 03:58 pm
The Royal New Zealand Navy’s HMNZS Aotearoa (A11) is seen alongside two rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), one from A11 and another from BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), as they conduct a personnel exchange exercise during a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) on October 30, 2025. (Photo: Armed Forces of the Philippines)
The Philippines and China exchanged sharp words anew over joint military exercises in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as both sides accused the other of provocation and destabilizing the region.
The Department of National Defense (DND) on Saturday, Nov. 8, criticized China’s Ministry of National Defense for labeling the joint exercises of the Philippines with its defense partners as “an act of provocation,” saying it was a “classic case of projection, which China does best.”
“Their words do not reflect the reality in the West Philippine Sea and the broader South China Sea. The truth of the matter is that China is the real threat to regional stability,” DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said.
He was reacting to the remarks of Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense (MND). In a press conference in Beijing on Friday, Nov. 7, Jiang condemned the Philippines for “infringement, provocation, and propaganda,” citing Manila’s continued defense cooperation with its allies.
“We hold that defense and security cooperation between relevant countries should neither target or harm the interests of any third party, nor undermine regional peace and stability. The root cause for tensions in the South China Sea is that the Philippine side frequently draws in outside forces to conduct infringement and provocation," Jiang stated.
“China will neither tolerate the blackmail by those who provoke first and play the victim, nor indulge the provocation by those who stir up troubles in collusion with outside powers,” he added.
Last Oct. 31, DND Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the establishment of Task Force Philippines on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM‑Plus) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Manila and Washington said the task force aims to re‑establish deterrence in the South China Sea amid China’s growing presence, and increase readiness, joint exercises, crisis response, and interoperability between the two forces.
Jiang warned Manila against “undermining regional peace and stability.”
But Andolong dismissed Jiang's remarks, saying such accusations were an attempt to deflect from China's own illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions in the WPS.
China has repeatedly used force against Philipine vessels and forces in the WPS, either through the use of water cannon, dangerous maneuvers, blockades, or deliberate ramming, among others.
“We shall use China’s own words and make them more believable: the Philippines will not tolerate the blackmailing by those who provoke first and then play the victim,” he noted.
Andolong turned China’s own rhetoric against it, invoking President Xi Jinping’s past call to “resist unilateral bullying.”
“Xi Jinping himself said, ‘resist unilateral bullying, oppose protectionism, resist unilateral bullying, and prevent the world from returning to the law of the jungle.’ In the Southeast Asian jungles, our indigenous peoples whose heritage and customs we protect, are more law abiding than China,” he said.
He stressed that the Philippines will “remain undeterred in asserting its national interests” and in upholding international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea.
The DND, through the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), has been conducting joint maritime drills in the WPS with allied and friendly nations, which involved coordinated naval and air exercises aimed at enhancing interoperability in maritime security and disaster response.
Among the exercises were the annual Balikatan, the Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA), ALON 2025, and others.
China has slammed such initiatives but despite Beijing’s warnings, the DND maintained that such activities are part of legitimate defense cooperation.