Philippine urges US to continue sea patrol

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has encouraged the United States to continue its “freedom of navigation” operations in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing continues to impose shipping and air restrictions in the busy sea lanes.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr. revealed the development to reporters on Friday after attending the American Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon meeting at The Peninsula Manila.

Manila relayed the message as the US recently reaffirmed its commitment to maintain freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea where Beijing has launched massive land reclamation to cement its hold on vast areas it claims as its own.

The Philippines is pushing for joint patrols with the US in the West Philippine Sea as the Chinese are becoming bolder in asserting their claim over numerous uninhabited islets, shoals, and coral reefs in the resource-rich waters.

Manila began pushing for joint patrols with the US during the Second US-Philippines Two-Plus-Two Ministerial Dialogue in January and the sixth Bilateral Strategic Dialogue last month in Washington.

“That’s part of the ongoing discussions because again, you have to be able to determine the interoperability as well our capacity to do the joint patrols because when you look at the capability of the US versus our capability – we have more limited capacity,” Cuisia said.

“So they’ll have to determine what will be the role of the Philippine forces if those joint patrols will be undertaken,” he said.