The Philippine and Vietnamese coastguards have held firefighting and search-and-rescue exercises off Manila, the first such drills between the two countries with maritime disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and Vietnam claim part of the strategic waterway’s Spratly archipelago but said the drills at the mouth of Manila Bay contributed to maintaining peace and stability in the contested sea.
“It’s a good thing that we are going in one direction, which is the rules-based approach of the Philippines,” Lawrence Roque, captain of the Philippine ship BRP Gabriela Silang, told reporters following the drills on Friday.
“We hope also that the Vietnam coastguard, particularly the Vietnamese government, will also … follow the Philippines in enhancing or following the rules-based approach,” he added.
The Gabriela Silang and Vietnam’s CSB 8002 vessel fired a water cannon at a second Filipino vessel to simulate the rescue of a boat on fire in choppy waters at the mouth of the bay, which opens into the South China Sea.
A Filipino helicopter then dropped orange dummies into the sea as the two vessels launched tiny rubber boats which bobbed violently above the metre- (3.3-foot) tall waves to retrieve the make-believe victims.
The crews stood on deck and saluted each other as the two vessels did a passing manoeuvre to conclude the drills.
“We hope this will be the start of many more exercises of this type,” Roque added.
The exercise stood in stark contrast to violent confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels in recent months, which have fuelled fears of a conflict that could drag in the United States, a Manila ally.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
One of the most serious incidents took place in June, when Chinese sailors brandishing weapons including knives and an axe boarded Philippine naval vessels during a resupply mission to Filipino-held Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine coastguard said it was planning to send one of its ships to Vietnam later this year to boost maritime cooperation after their joint exercises.
In a Facebook statement on Friday night, the PCG said it would reciprocate Vietnam for its “gesture of goodwill” in sending a coastguard ship to Manila for its inaugural port visit.
The two Southeast Asian nations have recently submitted separate information to the United Nations, asserting exclusive rights to resources in the disputed sea.
In June, Vietnam offered to hold talks with the Philippines about overlapping maritime claims.
