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India, Philippines launch first joint South China Sea patrol
The historic joint patrol began as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr travelled to India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
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Indian Navy warships were patrolling areas of the disputed South China Sea with their Philippine counterparts for the first time on Monday, Manila’s military reported.
The two-day sail includes three Indian vessels and started on Sunday, a day ahead of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s scheduled trip to New Delhi for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Philippines has heightened defence cooperation with a range of allies over the past year after a series of clashes in the contested waterway. Beijing claims nearly the entirety of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
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India’s naval vessels, including the guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, arrived in Manila for a port visit late last week. The patrol “started yesterday afternoon, then it’s ongoing up to this moment … the activity at the moment is replenishment at sea”, Philippine Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Salgado said on Monday.
At a reception on Friday on board the INS Shakti fleet tanker, Shri Harsh Kumar Jain, Indian ambassador to the Philippines, called the visit “a powerful testament to the enduring friendship and growing maritime cooperation between the two countries”.
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“It also symbolises our shared commitment to the freedom of navigation and a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region,” he was quoted as saying by Naval News.
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