India and the Philippines staged joint sail and naval workouts in the disputed South China Sea for the first time, a high-profile navy deployment that can probably antagonise China. Beijing has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian democracies and a long-running regional rivalry with New Delhi.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of employees Gen. Romeo Brawner stated on Monday (August 4, 2025) the two-day joint naval sail and workouts which started on Sunday (August 3, 2025) have been profitable up to now and expressed hopes that Filipino forces may interact India’s navy in extra joint maneuvers in the future.
Asked if Chinese forces carried out any motion in response, Mr. Brawner stated with out elaborating that “we did not experience any untoward incident but we were still shadowed. We expected that already.”
“In past joint patrols with other foreign navies, Chinese navy and coast guard ships have kept watch from a distance,” based on the Philippine navy.
China has a longstanding land border dispute with India in the Himalayas, which sparked a monthlong battle in 1962 and quite a lot of lethal firefights after.
Separately, Beijing’s expansive claims to just about the total South China Sea, a key world commerce route, has led to tense confrontations with different claimant States, notably the Philippines and Vietnam. Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan additionally lay claims to components of the contested waters.
Chinese ship runs aground off Philippines-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea
The Philippines has staged naval patrols in the disputed waters with its treaty ally, the United States, and different strategic companions together with Japan, Australia, New Zealand and France to advertise freedom of navigation and overflight and strengthen deterrence towards China.
It has allowed journalists to hitch territorial sea and aerial patrols to witness China’s more and more aggressive actions, frightening indignant Chinese reactions.
In response to a query final week about Manila’s plans to construct up navy cooperation, China’s Ministry of National Defence known as the Philippines a “troublemaker” that has aligned itself with international forces to fire up hassle in what China deems its personal territorial waters. “China never wavers in its resolve and will to safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and will take resolute countermeasures against any provocations by the Philippine side,” Defence Ministry spokesperson Col. Zhang Xiaogang stated in a information convention.
Philippines President Marcos Jr. to go to India as two sides deepen maritime cooperation
Mr. Brawner stated the Philippines has to spice up deterrence to forestall battle. “The way to do that is number one, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has to be strengthened through modernisation and secondly, we need to partner with like-minded nations and that’s what we’re doing with India,” he stated final week.
During a reception on board an Indian navy tanker, the INS Shakti, on Thursday (July 31, 2025), Mr. Brawner stated the vessel’s port name in Manila was greater than ceremonial. It “sends a powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific,” he stated.
Mr. Brawner welcomed the deepening of relations between the two Asian international locations and “reaffirmed the shared commitment to maritime security, regional stability and a rules-based international order in one of the world’s most geopolitically sensitive regions.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos left on Monday for a five-day state go to to India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and different high officers to spice up defence, commerce and funding, agriculture, tourism and pharmaceutical trade engagements.
