Warships from India to join PH in patrolling West PH Sea in August

Soft coral samples were collected from across the Indo-Pacific, with circle size showing sample volume and colors indicating marine provinces. Over 100 samples came from the West Philippine Sea and Philippine Rise alone. PHOTO: UP MSI

MANILA, Philippines — India will join the Philippines in patrolling the West Philippine Sea next month in what experts say aims to send a “strong message” against China, its rival regional power in Asia.

Manila and New Delhi will conduct a maritime cooperative activity (MCA) between August 4 to 8, according to a report of Indian network New Delhi Television Ltd. over the weekend, citing sources.

The drills will be conducted after the visit of four Indian navy warships to Manila port, first announced by Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shri Harsh Kumar Jain in a speech on July 11.

An advisory of the Indian embassy on Wednesday said the South Asian nation’s guided missile destroyer INS (Indian Naval Ship) Delhi, anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kiltan, fleet tanker INS Shakti, and survey ship INS Sandhayak will have a port visit in Manila on Aug. 2.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said of the naval visit: “We usually don’t announce the details in advance of the operation or the activity.”

“Details of that will be released the moment that they are already in the country,” Trinidad said in a regular military press conference on Tuesday.

Last year, INS Delhi, INS Kiltan, and INS Shakti also had a goodwill visit in Manila.

READ: 3 Indian warships in Manila on goodwill visit

Also, this is not the first time Manila and Delhi conducted drills in the West Philippine Sea. In 2021, both nations held joint drills there, joined by two naval warships.

READ: PH, India navies hold exercises in West Philippine Sea

Security expert Chester Cabalza said the continuous buildup of maritime cooperation between both nations stemmed from “the common naval threat Manila and New Delhi are facing today.”

“It truly builds up to the strategic clarity of pan Indo-Pacific strategy where India and the Philippines are sending a strong message to China in the South China Sea,” Cabalza,  president and founder of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told Inquirer on Tuesday.

Aside from its “broader Indo-Pacific vision,” international relations expert Don Mclain Gill, said such cooperation is well in line with India’s Act East Policy as well.

This Indian policy aims to strengthen its position as a regional power by fostering extensive economic and strategic relations with Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines.

“Of course being two like-minded countries in Asia, that share a common threat but also at the same time common principles and ideals towards upholding democracy and international law, we see this as a continuation of existing efforts to bolster the growing Philippine-India partnership and hopefully towards an elevation of bilateral ties,” Gill, lecturer at the De La Salle University’s Department of International Studies, told Inquirer on Tuesday.

Gill continued: “We are also likely to see more efforts in exploring ways where India can take part in the modernization of the Philippine military.”

The country has acquired its medium-range supersonic cruise missile from India called “BrahMos.”

BrahMos, a portmanteau of the river names Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia, has a range of 290 to 400 kilometers that could travel at Mach 2.8, or about three times faster than the speed of sound. /jpv