Australia, Canada, Philippine ships hold drills in tense South China Sea

Manila says exercises with Australia, Canada successful flashpoint maritime country demonstrates a ‘commitment’ to defence practice with ‘like-minded nations’.

Australia, Canada and the Philippines person conducted associated exercises disconnected a disputed shoal successful the South China Sea claimed by Beijing, deploying 3 warships and subject craft successful aerial defence exercises.

The Philippine subject said connected Thursday that the associated naval drills eastbound of the Scarborough Shoal – a flashpoint for confrontations with Chinese vessels – focused connected simulations to antagonistic aerial threats “through coordinated antiaircraft measures”.

Sailing from a occidental Philippine state of Palawan, the Philippines’ vessel Jose Rizal, Australia’s HMAS Brisbane, and Canada’s HMCS Ville de Quebec participated, the subject said, adding that the drills reaffirmed “the Philippines’ committedness to advancing defence practice with like-minded nations”.

China and the Philippines some assertion the Scarborough Shoal and different islands, islets and reefs successful the South China Sea, portion Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan besides person overlapping claims successful the engaged waterway.

China did not instantly contented immoderate remark connected the drills, The Associated Press quality bureau reports, but Beijing has repeatedly warned that it would support the shoal and outlying waters, which it claims arsenic its ain territory.

Video footage and photographs released by the Philippine subject showed astatine slightest 3 warplanes taking portion successful the drills with the 3 ships, arsenic good arsenic astatine slightest 1 heavy-lift subject helicopter.

Exercise ALON Naval Forces Forge Stronger Cooperation As Maritime Exercises Conclude Off Bajo De Masinloc

The Philippine Navy, unneurotic with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, successfully concluded a multilateral maritime workout eastbound of Bajo de Masinloc on… pic.twitter.com/l6Pz4ifv1r

— Armed Forces of the Philippines (@TeamAFP) August 27, 2025

The associated naval drill marked the last activities of the largest subject exercises Australia has staged with the Philippines – Exercise ALON 2025 – involving much than 3,600 subject unit taking portion successful 15 days of live-fire drills and manoeuvres that are owed to reason connected Friday.

Australian Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Raven was quoted by the Philippines Daily Inquirer arsenic saying the exercises were “the largest airlift of Australian combat forces since the 1999 East Timor mission”, erstwhile Australia led a multinational peacekeeping unit successful effect to a information and humanitarian crisis.

“This shows we tin deploy a combat-ready and combat-capable unit wrong the Indo-Pacific to assistance a information spouse specified arsenic the Philippines,” Raven said, according to the Inquirer.

One of the astir delicate areas successful the South China Sea, the Scarborough Shoal has been intimately guarded by China’s forces, and connected August 11 witnessed an accidental collision betwixt a Chinese navy vessel and a Chinese coastguard vas arsenic they tried to artifact a Philippine coastguard vas adjacent the shoal.

The Reuters quality bureau reported connected Wednesday that the Chinese coastguard vessel is present nether repair astatine Hainan Island, the archetypal confirmation that the severely damaged vas made it backmost to larboard aft the collision, which was caught connected video by the Philippines.

Satellite images provided to Reuters by Maxar Technologies amusement the vas with a crushed bow flanked by tugs alongside a adust dock astatine the Yulin naval basal adjacent Sanya, a metropolis connected Hainan.

Chinese officials person not commented connected the collision, but Beijing has accused Philippine vessels of conducting “dangerous manoeuvres” without referring straight to the collision.

Sovereignty implicit the Scarborough Shoal has ne'er been established.

A landmark 2016 ruling connected the South China Sea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration successful The Hague rejected Beijing’s sweeping claims to the full maritime region, but the tribunal was not tasked with establishing sovereignty implicit peculiar features.

The tribunal besides ruled China’s blockade of the shoal violated planetary instrumentality and said the country was a accepted sportfishing crushed for respective countries.

China rejects the ruling and continues to property its territorial claims successful the oversea backed up by its naval, coastguard and militia vessels.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies