Philippines risks Beijing’s ire as it weighs using allies for South China Sea resupply runs

“We’ll wait for the National Maritime Council to give us the appropriate guidance in terms of timing and other issues,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters on July 16. He said the decision would be made by the council and the foreign affairs department.

A plan to combine a resupply mission with a joint exercise “could prove dangerous, but so is current Chinese behaviour. China has been steadily escalating [tension], not the Philippines”, said Gregory Poling, director of the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

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The Philippine Navy has conducted joint exercises with other countries previously, but any involvement of foreign armed forces in an exercise held in conjunction with Manila’s resupply mission would constitute a major development, analysts say.

In the event of the Philippines asking for US help with resupply missions, Washington was likely to answer the call, Poling told This Week in Asia.

On Friday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US “would do what is necessary” to help the Philippines in its resupply efforts, with Washington’s preference being to maintain the regional status quo.

“We have tried to consult very closely with the Philippines because these are decisions they should lead on, how to most effectively reprovision this ship so that the sailors on board have the food and water and other provisions they need to continue to fulfil their mission,” Sullivan said, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

If the Philippines were to find it difficult or dangerous to resume its resupply missions on its own, leveraging the support of its allies to deter Chinese