China ‘challenges’ PH, US aircraft as joint drills begin
PALAYAN CITY—Chinese ships and aircraft continued to linger near Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, tailing and challenging Philippine and American planes on patrol on Monday, as the armies of the two allies launched their joint drills this year to rehearse their combined capabilities in a potential future conflict with an “adversary.”
A Chinese Navy chopper on Monday morning repeatedly issued radio challenges to a BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) aircraft conducting a maritime domain awareness flight over the shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc, off Zambales province.
But the BFAR pilots challenged back China’s “illegal claims” over the territorial airspace of those waters, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a press briefing.
The BFAR aircraft also spotted five Chinese coast guard ships, one People’s Liberation Army Navy (Plan) vessel, a Plan chopper and four Chinese maritime militia ships.
Four BFAR vessels and two PCG ships were also in the vicinity of the shoal, which lies 222 kilometers (120 nautical miles) from the mainland west of Luzon—well within the country’s exclusive economic zone—and nearly 926 km (500 nautical miles) from the nearest Chinese territory, the island province of Hainan.
China took control of Panatag Shoal in 2012 after a two-month standoff with the Philippine Navy.
The Chinese Navy chopper stayed 4.8 km (3 miles) away from the BFAR aircraft but did not harass it—unlike in February when a Chinese helicopter came as close as 3 meters from a BFAR aircraft on patrol.
Poseidon’s presence
China also challenged the presence of the US Navy’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft where the Inquirer was on board together with three other journalists.
The 39-meter-long Poseidon left Clark Air Base at 1:25 p.m. and was on its way to Panatag Shoal when China issued a radio challenge.
But the US aircraft continued its aerial mission which lasted for about three hours.
Cmdr. Zachary Sipes of the US Navy told the journalists aboard that the mission was “to fly into international airspace in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific in accordance with international law and rules-based order.”
“I think the message that it sends is we are here to support the international rules-based order and a free and open Indo-Pacific. So our presence helps strengthen the alliances and partnerships we have in the region to let everybody know we are here to support,” Sipes said.
As he flew the Poseidon above the area of Panatag, the aircraft’s pilot, US Navy Lt. Alexander Walker, said the mission aims to “keep the international waterways safe no matter what.”
The aircraft’s monitoring system showed four China Coast Guard vessels and one Chinese Navy ship at Panatag, as they were shadowing PCG vessel BRP Bagacay and BFAR vessels BRP Datu Pagbuaya and BRP Tamblot.
“It’s really rewarding to be really able to come here with the US military and do this,” said a member of the aircraft’s crew Lt. Ken Carandang, a Filipino American naval flight officer and tactical coordinator.
Defense of Luzon
Amid the developments at Panatag Shoal on Monday, the Philippine and US armies launched their first annual joint exercises under the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The launching of the exercises came ahead of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s scheduled visit to the Philippines on March 28. The Pentagon on March 21 said Hegseth’s first trip to Asia, including visits to Japan, Hawaii and Guam, “will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen our alliances and partnerships toward our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The joint drills called “Sabak 2025” is an amalgamation of “Salaknib,” the annual bilateral exercise led by the Philippine Army and US Army Pacific, and “Balikatan,” the largest joint exercises of the two countries involving all branches of both armed forces. A separate kickoff event for Balikatan will be held in late April.
Salaknib will involve around 3,000 Filipino and 2,000 US Army soldiers training their land forces for the defense of Luzon and will be held in two phases: from March 24 to April 11 and May 19 to July 20.
“We’re training together because the time will come, we will actually fight together and our adversary must know this. The adversary must be aware of what we have at stake,” the Philippines’ exercise director, Brig. Gen. Michael Logico, said during the drills’ opening ceremony at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija province.
“‘Sabak,’ for the lack of a visual representation, means to crack your knuckles in preparation for a fight, to roll your sleeves and make a fist. It’s meeting a bully halfway across the bar room. It’s the staredown that boxers make before the fight,” he explained.
‘Looking for adversaries’
The drills will focus on the defense of the Philippines and its territories, said Col. Aidan Shattock, deputy commander for interoperability at the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division, but he did not directly say they were aimed at China.
“As we go through these battle plans, it’s important to understand that we are looking at adversaries. So how we operate, whatever adversary is out there, it’s important that we are able to work together to defend the Philippines,” he said.
This year’s exercises will also feature the Typhon, a midrange missile system—capable of firing up to thousands of kilometers—whose presence has time and again prompted China’s concern. But there will be no live-fire exercises of the missile system as this will only be used for “subject-matter exchanges.”
