The Armed Forces of the Philippines and five other countries participated in joint naval exercises off the coast of the Philippines’ northern Luzon island facing Taiwan in a display of naval strength amid rising tensions with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Called Sama Sama, which means togetherness, the October 2024 drills involved almost a thousand Sailors and personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Philippines and the United States. The high-intensity exercises focused on anti-submarine, anti-surface and anti-air warfare.
Building relationships with key Allies creates a “deterrent effect,” U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Todd Cimicata told reporters at the Port of Subic Bay, west of Manila. But he added the exercises did not target any country.
“The intent of these exercises is not to ruffle feathers. It’s tailored for interoperability,” Cimicata said. “Across the gamut, there are people that don’t follow those rules so we have to agree so that we can set those standards.”
The nine-day exercises brought together Philippine naval ships along with Canada’s Halifax class frigate HMCS Vancouver and a CH 148 Cyclone helicopter, Japan’s ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft and Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, and the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Howard.
The drills came more than a week after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said its air and naval forces conducted maneuvers in a disputed area of the South China Sea, fanning tensions in a waterway that remains a regional flashpoint. Cimicata said the exercises were planned months in advance.
The PRC claims most of the South China Sea, but those assertions conflict with claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, angering the PRC’s neighbors and the U.S., which has stepped up its security engagements in the region.
An international tribunal in 2016 determined that Beijing had no legal authority for its territorial assertions in the South China Sea, but the PRC has ignored that ruling. It continues illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous tactics, including harassing Philippine and Vietnamese fishermen, and assaulting Philippine Sailors and boats on resupply missions to a military outpost on Second Thomas Shoal, in the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
The U.S. in September 2024 carried out joint maritime exercises with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines in Manila’s exclusive economic zone to improve the militaries’ interoperability.
“Today we witness the deepening of ties between the Philippine Navy and the U.S. Navy along with our partners,” Rear Adm. Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta, vice commander of the Philippine Navy, said at Sama Sama’s outset. “This exercise is a powerful investment for our collective movement and an opportunity to address regional challenges together.”
