Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) leads French Navy La Fayette-class frigate FS La Fayette (F 710) and Indian navy Shivalik-class stealth frigate Sahyadri (F49) during joint training exercise La Pérouse 2023 in the Bay of Bengal, March 13. US Navy handout photo

MANILA - The Philippine Coast Guard said Thursday it will participate for the first time in an annual joint military exercise conducted by the Southeast Asian country and the United States.

More than 16,700 Filipino and American troops will take part in this year's drills, which kick off Monday.

Training exercises help AFP ‘prepare for war’ - Balikatan executive agent

The exercises will be focused in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation -- near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan.

Beijing claims almost the entire waterway and considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory.

Other countries, including the Philippines, have overlapping claims to parts of the sea. The United States has no territorial claim over the waters or features, but regularly conducts patrols there.

The United States has been deepening its defense cooperation with regional allies, including the Philippines, as it seeks to counter China's growing assertiveness.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said Thursday it would be the first time Philippine Coast Guard vessels join the drills dubbed Balikatan, which means "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog.

Previously, PCG boats had patrolled the waters around the exercises to prevent interlopers.

Six vessels would participate, Balilo said, including four 44-metre multi-role response boats and two larger patrol vessels.

The coast guard's special operations force would also "undertake joint interoperability exercises" with the Philippine Navy and their counterparts from Australia, France and the United States.

The Philippine Coast Guard, which patrols the country's exclusive economic zone and carries out supply missions to remote outposts in the South China Sea, has accused China's coast guard and other boats of shadowing and blocking its vessels.

There have been several minor collisions between Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels in recent months, raising fears of a wider conflict that could involve the United States and other allies.

There have also been multiple incidents involving the China Coast Guard water-cannoning Philippine vessels, at times injuring Filipino crew members.

The Balikatan drills will involve a simulation of an armed recapture of an island off the western province of Palawan, near the South China Sea, and the sinking of a vessel off the northern province of Ilocos Norte, several hundred kilometres from Taiwan.

For the first time, the drills will go beyond the Philippines' territorial waters, which extend about 22 kilometres from its coastline, Philippine Colonel Michael Logico told reporters on Wednesday.

The United States Coast Guard will also take part in the exercise.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian urged the Philippines “to stop making maritime provocations." He also told countries outside the region “to stop stoking confrontation in the South China Sea.”

 “China has made clear many times its position on the military cooperation between the US and the Philippines. The Philippines needs to be fully aware that when countries outside the region are brought into the South China Sea to flex muscles and stoke confrontation, tensions could get worse and the region will only become less stable. To hand over one’s security to forces outside the region will only lead to greater insecurity and turn oneself into someone else’s chess piece,” Lin said in a regular news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

“We will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and keep the South China Sea peaceful and stable,” he added.

Asked for comment, military spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the Balikatan exercises "are not directed towards any specific country."

"This longstanding initiative, spanning several years, is aimed at enhancing cooperation, fostering training opportunities, and strengthening regional stability," she told reporters in a Viber message. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Tolentino urged the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to again install fishers’ payao after they were reportedly removed by Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.
 
“Kung totoo yun, it's another basis for another diplomatic protest” Tolentino said. “Parang ninakaw na nila yun, pag-aari natin yun."

"So tuloy lang natin yun. Ano lang siguro ngayon, naa-agitate sila e. Kasi ongoing yung Balikatan exercises tapos tuloy-tuloy yung upgrading ng ating alliances with other countries so siguro doon sila na-agitate kaya ginagawa nila yan.”  

-- With reports from Bianca Dava and Sherrie Ann Torres, ABS-CBN News