South China Sea: Philippines, US, Japan to step up maritime cooperation to deter Beijing’s aggression

The trilateral summit in Washington between the leaders of the Philippines, United States and Japan saw a number of announcements focused on strengthening maritime defence cooperation in the South China Sea to counter Beijing’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters.

Of particular interest to those in the Philippines was confirmation that the country’s coastguard would be included in Manila’s mutual defence treaty with the US, as well as a number of “high-impact infrastructure projects”.

The joint statement released by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the conclusion of Thursday’s summit made it clear that the meeting was aimed at opposing Beijing’s recent maritime activities.

“We express our serious concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s dangerous and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea,” the statement said. “We are also concerned by the militarisation of reclaimed features and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea.”

The statement also expressed “steadfast” opposition to “the dangerous and coercive use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea”, a reference to Beijing’s strategy of using both military and paramilitary maritime forces.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China “firmly opposes the relevant countries manipulating bloc politics, and firmly opposes any behaviour that provokes or lays plans for opposition, and hurts other countries’ strategic security and interests”.

Japan and the Philippines “should not invite factional opposition into the region, much less engage in trilateral cooperation at the cost of hurting another country’s interests”, Mao said,