US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage drills

ABOARD BRP CABRA, Philippines — U.S., Japanese and Philippine coast guard ships staged law enforcement drills in waters near the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday as Washington presses efforts to reinforce alliances in Asia amid an increasingly tense rivalry with China.

Witnessed by journalists onboard a Philippine coast guard patrol boat, the BRP Cabra, the drills focused on a scenario involving the interdiction and boarding of a vessel suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction off the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said.

Shots rang out as heavily armed coast guard personnel rapidly boarded the vessel from a speedboat and herded the crew members toward the stern. A helicopter hovered as U.S. and Japanese coast guard ships helped rescue crew members who jumped off the target vessel during the mock assault.

“We are not just all display,” Philippine coast guard deputy spokesperson John Ybanez said. “All these exercises that we do will help us help each other in possible scenarios in the future.”

The U.S. Coast Guard deployed one of its most advanced cutters, the 418-foot (127-meter) Stratton , in the June 1-7 exercises hosted by the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. The Stratton has been conducting exercises in the region to share expertise in search and rescue and law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

“This first trilateral engagement between the coast guards of these nations will provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen global maritime governance though professional exchanges and combined operations,” the Stratton’s commanding officer, Capt. Brian Krautler, said at the start of the exercises. “Together we’ll demonstrate professional, rules-based standards of maritime operations with our steadfast partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Japan deployed a large coast guard ship, the Akitsushima, while four Philippine coast guard vessels joined the exercises.

The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in the South China Sea and in any future confrontation over Taiwan, the self-governing island which Beijing regards as a Chinese province.

Washington lays no claims to the strategic South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysian, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in tense territorial stand-offs for decades. But the U.S. says freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes in the busy waterway are in its national interest.

Philippine officials say such joint exercises with U.S. forces do not target any country. But China has warned that increased U.S. security deployments in Asia target Beijing’s interests and undermine regional stability.

The U.S. Pacific Command said over the weekend that a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate were intercepted by a Chinese warship in the Taiwan Strait . The Chinese vessel overtook the American ship and veered across its bow at a distance of 150 yards (about 140 meters) in an “unsafe manner,” it said.

Last month, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft flew directly in front of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 plane in an “an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while the American reconnaissance plane “was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law.”

In April, Japan adopted a new five-year ocean policy that calls for stronger maritime security, including bolstering its coast guard’s capability and cooperation with the military. It cited a list of threats, including repeated intrusions by Chinese coast guard ships into Japanese territorial waters.

The Philippine coast guard, meanwhile, has intensified patrols in the South China Sea and taken extra efforts to document and publicize assertive Chinese behavior in the waterway following a Feb. 6 incident in which a Chinese coast guard ship aimed a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some crew members on a Philippine patrol boat off a disputed reef.

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

菲律宾卡布拉号军舰——周二，美国、日本和菲律宾海岸警卫队舰艇在有争议的南海附近水域举行执法演习。与此同时，华盛顿正加紧努力加强在亚洲的联盟，以应对与中国日益紧张的竞争。

菲律宾海岸警卫队发言人阿曼德·巴利洛准将表示，记者们在菲律宾海岸警卫队巡逻艇“卡布拉号”上目睹了此次演习，演习的重点是拦截和登船检查一艘涉嫌在巴丹半岛附近携带大规模杀伤性武器的船只。

枪声响起，全副武装的海岸警卫队人员迅速从快艇上登上目标船只，并将船员驱赶到船尾。一架直升机在空中盘旋，美日海岸警卫队舰艇参与救援在模拟袭击中跳船的船员。

菲律宾海岸警卫队副发言人约翰·伊巴内斯表示：“我们并非只是作秀。我们进行的所有这些演习都将有助于我们在未来可能发生的类似情况下互相帮助。”

美国海岸警卫队派出了其最先进的巡逻舰之一——127米长的“斯特拉顿”号，参加了6月1日至7日由美国在亚洲最古老的条约盟友菲律宾主办的联合演习。美国海岸警卫队表示，“斯特拉顿”号一直在该地区进行演习，旨在分享搜救和执法方面的经验。

“此次三国海岸警卫队之间的首次三方联合演习，将为通过专业交流和联合行动加强全球海上治理提供宝贵机遇，”斯特拉顿号舰长布莱恩·克劳特勒上校在演习开始时表示。“我们将与我们坚定的伙伴共同展示专业、基于规则的海上行动标准，以确保自由开放的印太地区。”

日本出动了一艘大型海岸警卫队舰艇“秋津岛”号，菲律宾海岸警卫队也派出四艘舰艇参加了演习。

拜登政府一直在加强印太地区的一系列军事联盟，以更好地对抗中国，包括在南海以及未来任何与台湾（北京视之为中国一个省份的自治岛屿）的对抗中。

华盛顿对具有战略意义的南海不提出任何主权声索。几十年来，中国、菲律宾、越南、马来西亚、台湾和文莱一直在南海陷入紧张的领土争端。但美国表示，维护航行和飞越自由以及和平解决这一繁忙水道的争端符合其国家利益。

菲律宾官员表示，此类与美军的联合演习不针对任何国家。但中国警告称，美国在亚洲不断增加的安全部署针对的是北京的利益，并会破坏地区稳定。

美国太平洋司令部周末表示，一艘美国导弹驱逐舰和一艘加拿大护卫舰在台湾海峡遭到一艘中国军舰拦截。司令部称，中国军舰超越了美国军舰，并在距离其船头约140米（150码）处以“不安全的方式”横穿其船头。

上个月，美国印太司令部表示，一架中国歼-16战斗机直接飞到一架美国空军RC-135飞机的正前方，进行了“不必要的挑衅性机动”，当时这架美国侦察机“正在南海国际空域按照国际法进行安全和例行作业”。

今年4月，日本通过了一项新的五年海洋政策，呼吁加强海上安全，包括提升海上保安厅的能力并加强与军方的合作。该政策列举了一系列威胁，其中包括中国海警船屡次侵入日本领海。

与此同时，在2月6日中国海警船用军用激光照射菲律宾巡逻艇上一些船员，导致他们在争议礁石附近短暂失明的事件发生后，菲律宾海岸警卫队加强了在南海的巡逻，并采取了额外措施来记录和宣传中国在该水域的挑衅行为。

美联社驻马尼拉记者吉姆·戈麦斯对本报道亦有贡献。