Squad ditches Quad to keep US heat on China

In early April 2024, the navies of four countries —Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States — held a maritime exercise in the South China Sea.

Australia’s Warramunga, Japan’s Akebono, the Philippines’ Antonio Luna, and America’s Mobile worked together in these waters to strengthen their joint abilities and – as they said in a joint statement – to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight and respect for maritime rights under international law.”

A few weeks later, between April 22 and May 8, ships from the Philippines and the US operated alongside Australian and French naval troops for Exercise Balikatan 2024.

For this Balikatan (“shoulder-to-shoulder”), over 16,000 troops participated in an area of the South China Sea that is outside the territorial waters of the Philippines. Alongside the navies of these nations, the Coast Guard of the Philippines took part in Exercise Balikatan.

This is significant because it is the boats of the Coast Guard that most often encounter Chinese ships in these international waters, part of which are disputed between China and the Philippines.

Although the official documents of these exercises do not mention China by name, they are certainly designed as part of the increasing military activity driven by the United States along China’s maritime border.

During the Balikatan exercise, the navy vessels from the Philippines and the United States jointly attacked and sank the decommissioned Philippine Navy BRP Lake Caliraya. The ship—which was made in China—had been donated to the navy by the Philippine National Oil Company in 2014.

The fact that it was the only ship in the Philippines’ navy that was made in China did not go unnoticed within China. Colonel Francel