The Chinese military on Sunday urged the Philippines to immediately stop provoking incidents and further escalating tensions in the South China Sea, state media reported.
This comes amid the Philippines, the United States, and Japan conducting another round of maritime drills in the South China Sea, which is known as the West Philippine Sea by the Philippines.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command on Friday organized a bomber formation to conduct a routine patrol in the South China Sea, according to a spokesperson quoted by Xinhua
The patrol in the South China Sea was conducted amid the Philippines’ so-called “joint patrols” with external forces, the spokesperson said.
The 13th Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA), and the eighth held this year, on Friday and Saturday, brought together major assets from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), US Indo-Pacific Command, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, according to a news release.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines deployed its two missile-capable frigates, BRP Jose Rizal (FF150) and BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), along with an AW159 helicopter. The US sent the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, led by the USS Nimitz (CVN 68), while Japan fielded JS Akebono (DD-108) and an SH-60K Seahawk.
The Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Melchora Aquino and BRP Cape San Agustin also supported the mission, as per the Philippines’ news agency.
The trilateral drills follow the historic Philippine-US-Japan leaders’ summit in April, where the three countries pledged deeper maritime cooperation, more joint patrols, and expanded defence coordination, the PNA news report said.
The Philippines and Japan last month held their first joint military training exercise since the signing of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between the two countries.
The RAA defence pact, which was signed in July 2024 and took effect in September 2025, enables the forces of Japan and the Philippines to train together on each other’s territory.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that three Chinese ships, including a destroyer, had passed through waters south of Kagoshima on Kyushu island on Tuesday before travelling through the Osumi Strait into the Pacific Ocean.
The development came days after Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan, which drew strong opposition from Beijing. She told the Japanese parliament last Friday that the use of military force in the Taiwan Strait could be regarded as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.
