Australia, Japan and the US are to conduct a joint naval exercise in a show of support for the Philippines’ stand against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Kyodo News reported on Friday.
The announcement of the drills comes amid regional tensions after Manila said a China Coast Guard ship had fired a water cannon at Philippine supply boats in the waters off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the Spratly archipelagolo (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) earlier this month, the report said, citing unnamed sources.
Taiwan also claims the islands.
Photo: AFP
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is expected to send its largest destroyer, the JS Izumo, which is slated to be refitted to become an aircraft carrier next year or the year after, Kyodo said.
The US Navy and the Australian Royal Navy would deploy the USS America and HMAS Canberra respectively, the sources were cited as saying.
The joint exercise aims to display the US’ and its allies’ commitment to upholding freedom of navigation and would feature aircraft takeoff and landing exercises from the decks of the three ships, they said.
The Philippine forces declined to take part in the exercise, as their ships cannot handle the other navies’ large warplanes, they said.
The commanders of the four navies might issue a joint statement from Manila to send a “strong message,” the sources said.
In the past few years, the Philippines has increasingly looked to the US-led security coalition for assistance in defending its waters against Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the region, Kyodo said.
In June, Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the US held their first summit involving top defense officials in Singapore to declare their intent to bolster quadrilateral security cooperation and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.
A month later, China Coast Guard vessels began to interfere with Philippine supply boats operating in the vicinity of the Second Thomas Shoal — a move that was broadly construed to be a test of the US and its regional allies’ resolve.
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NINE-IN-ONE ELECTIONS: Prosecutors’ offices recorded 115 cases of alleged foreign interference in the presidential election campaign from August 2023 to Dec. 13 last year The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said that it has begun planning early to counter Chinese interference in next year’s nine-in-one elections as its intelligence shows that Beijing might intensify its tactics, while warning of continued efforts to infiltrate the government and military. The bureau submitted a report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a meeting today of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. “We will research situations in different localities and keep track of abnormalities to ensure that next year’s elections proceed without disruption,” the bureau said. Although the project is generally launched during election years, reports of alleged Chinese interference
RSS