Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 2)— The Philippine government is in the process of crafting guidelines for the conduct of combined maritime activities in the West Philippine Sea — including joint patrols with regional partners.
This was announced on Thursday by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), adding that talks are also underway on the operational details of the upcoming maritime activities.“Operational details, including on the possibility of engaging other regional partners, will be part of PH-US discussions,” DFA spokesperson Tess Daza said.However, it remains unclear which countries have expressed interest in the joint patrol talks.In an earlier interview with Reuters, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said Australia and Japan may take part in the proposed joint patrols in the South China Sea between Manila and Washington.“Meetings have already been set and probably we may have the Japanese and the Australians join in,” Romualdez said.“They would like to join in for joint patrols to make sure that there’s the code of conduct and there’s freedom of navigation,” he added.The envoy also said that a joint patrol between four countries is still an “idea under discussion.”
Early this year, Romualdez revealed that joint patrols between the Philippines and US are on the table.
READ: PH-US joint maritime patrols in West PH Sea ‘on the table’ – envoy
Japan: No joint patrol talks yet
The Japanese embassy in Manila, however, clarified that there are no official discussions yet with the Philippines, US, and Australia on joint maritime patrols.In a statement sent to CNN Philippines, the embassy said both leaders of Japan and the Philippines have agreed in improving defense engagements.“Both leaders welcomed deepening defense engagements through the participation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in the Philippines-US joint exercises and committed to further enhancement of defense exchanges through JP-PH-US trilateral dialogues,” the Japanese embassy said.Tokyo added that its government is ready to cooperate with partners to promote maritime law enforcement in the Indo-Pacific region.
