John Currin

AARON-MATTHEW LARIOSA

APRIL 29, 2024 5:58 PM – UPDATED: APRIL 29, 2024 11:51 PM

This post has been updated with a statement from U.S. forces in the Philippines.

U.S., Philippine, and French amphibs and frigates drew the attention of Chinese surveillance ships and surface combatants as they sailed out of Philippine territorial waters into the disputed waters of the South China Sea over the weekend during Manila’s largest annual military exercise.

The combined force, composed of USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49), BRP Davao del Sur (LD 602), BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16) and FS Vendémiaire (F 734), departed Puerto Princesa last Thursday to kick off the multilateral maritime exercise component of Balikatan 2024 with Chinese warships nearby.

Sailing to their planned exercise areas in the South China Sea, the ships were within Philippine archipelagic waters in the Sulu Sea during an uneventful first day at sea. However, after exiting territorial waters, at least two People’s Liberation Army Navy spy ships were spotted shadowing the multinational formation on Saturday.

One surveillance ship was identified as the Type 815-class electronic surveillance ship Tianwangxing (793). Philippine state media reported Tianwangxing was spotted near the exercise area, around 50 nautical miles from Western Palawan in the Philippine exclusive economic zone. Alongside the two spy ships, a Chinese frigate came within seven to nine nautical miles of the group on Sunday.

According to a TaiwanPlus reporter embarked on a Philippine Navy warship, the Chinese surveillance ship Tianwangxing sailed within two nautical miles of Harpers Ferry disrupting a live-fire drill with crew-served weapons. Following an earlier version of this post, two U.S. exercise spokespeople denied the Chinese ship disrupted the exercise to USNI News.

Armed Forces of the Philippines officials told local media that they were unbothered by the presence of PLAN ships because they received no provocations or disruptions to the exercise, stating that “as long [as] we continue to monitor and report them, we are in control of the situation, and besides the exercises are still ongoing.”

While maritime drills have occurred in previous iterations of Balikatan, this year’s exercise pushes the boundaries through its activities in the South China Sea. According to exercise plans, the drills will include “sailing within the bounds of the Philippines’ economic exclusive zone” and training for freedom of navigation operations.

France and the Philippines will also hold a separate bilateral exercise on Tuesday outside of the scope of Balikatan 2024. The patrol frigates Vendémiaire and Ramon Alcaraz will detach from the trilateral formation to conduct a bilateral sail in the South China Sea, although it’s unclear where or what drills the ships will perform. While the 2024 Balikatan is the first time Paris is participating, a French news release stated that Vendémiaire will leave the exercise before “it reaches its high-intensity phase,” referring to U.S.-Philippine coastal defense and amphibious assault drills.

Balikatan’s maritime component in the South China Sea wrapped up on Monday with a last-minute shadow of the PLAN Type 51B Luhai-class destroyer Shenzhen (167) and the inclusion of USS Somerset (LPD-25). The amphibs will now continue for other activities under Balikatan, such as amphibious assault and HIMARS rapid infiltration drills across Western Palawan. Somerset got underway over the weekend after stopping in Subic Bay for mid-voyage repairs. The amphibious transport dock has been operating in the Indo-Pacific since deploying in January. The ship is part of a split deployment of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Before the beginning of Balikatan, the Philippine military stated that there were around 124 Chinese Maritime Militia vessels operating within the country’s EEZ, marking a drastic increase from the numbers usually operating in the area.

These encounters with Chinese vessels have occurred despite the Philippine Coast Guard’s reported commitment of six patrol vessels to safeguard the exercise areas from “unauthorized vessels.”

Chinese spy ships have been a common sight across the Indo-Pacific over the last decade. During the Rim of the Pacific exercises, Beijing’s spy ships consistently deploy around Hawaii to track the multinational naval drills. Even in 2014, when China sent four ships to participate in the exercise, a Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence ship was spotted observing the drills from a distance. Japan, Australia and India have also reported the presence of PLAN spy ships.

In 2022, the PLAN spy ship Haiwangxing (792) entered Philippine archipelagic waters and loitered around the Sulu Sea for three days claiming innocent passage. The Philippine government protested the incursion, stating that “[i]ts movements, however, did not follow a track that can be considered as continuous and expeditious, lingering in the Sulu Sea for three days.” These events also transpired during the U.S.-Philippine Marine Exercise 2022, which had several activities in Palawan.

Related

JOHN GRADY – APRIL 29, 2024 6:03 PM

Helping island nations, like Vanuatu, protect their resources and enforce their laws is “a sweet spot” for the Coast Guard’s operations in the Pacific, Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan said Monday.

The Coast Guard does a good job helping allies and partners build capacity globally, Fagan said Monday, during an online Center for Strategic and International Studies event.

Fagan used Vanuatu, a South Pacific nation spread over 80 islands, as an example to show how the Coast Guard can partner with other nations. Vanuatu’s ship riders were on USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC-903) and boarded several Chinese vessels suspected of illegal fishing in its exclusive economic zone, she said.

“During the operation, Vanuatu officers supported by U.S. Coast Guard crew members … found multiple violations of Vanuatu law. The operation was made possible by a 2016 ship rider agreement between the United States and Vanuatu, which enables Vanuatu maritime law enforcement officers to ride aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters and enforce Vanuatu’s laws within its waters,” the American embassy in the capital Port Vila said in a release

Fagan said Harriet Lane was now homeported in Honolulu to “create more [Coast Guard] presence” in the Indo-Pacific. She added the service expects to add two fast response cutters to its operations there.

The Coast Guard requested $263 million to increase presence and missions in the Indo-Pacific for Fiscal Year 2025.

“Illegal fishing is absolutely a global problem” that can dramatically impact small nations’ abilities to feed their citizens, the Coast Guard commandant said.

“[The] Coast Guard is operating as a professional military force” that “is[operating] consistent with international law,” Fagan said. She pointed to transit of cutters through the 90-mile wide Taiwan Strait as an example of that and the Coast Guard’s close alignment with the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command in missions and operations.

She noted that other nations, including the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, have capacity-building missions similar to the Coast Guard’s Mobile Training Teams.

The “long, long relationship” with Japan serves as an example of the service’s presence in the Pacific that now extends to missions with India. The service will again participate in this year’s Rim of the Pacific [RIMPAC] exercise, which is expected to have 29 nations participating.

On the Coast Guard’s largest capital shipbuilding program, the Polar Security Cutter, Fagan said, “we’re on budget [and] we’re really going to lean into it. It’s important to be cutting steel for this.”

The cutter is being built at Bollinger Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. It is the first heavy icebreaker to be built in the United States in 50 years. She added USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10), the nation’s only heavy icebreaker, will be completing maintenance work at Mare Island, Calif., and be available for Antarctic service this fall. Fagan added Polar Star was her first cutter after commissioning into the service.

On delays in delivery and repair work, “we’re competing with the Navy” for space in shipyards for both building and repair, she said. “We’re all operating with scarce capacity,” she said. Fagan praised the efforts the Navy has put into modernizing American shipyards to improve efficiency, expand operations and attract and retain a skilled workforce.

At the same time, the Navy and Coast Guard are also competing with the shipyards in attracting and retaining workers who can be trained or already are “welders, pipefitters, electricians. You don’t grow that overnight.”

The Coast Guard stepped up recruiting efforts, Fagan said.

“Maybe, I’m biased, I think … we’re the world’s best military [service]. You won’t find a better organization in the world,” Fagan said.

Like all the uniformed services, recruiting has proved a growing challenge as the economy rebounded from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on job opportunities.

In early April, the Coast Guard announced a comprehensive talent management initiative, examining billets against the military’s traditional up-or-out pyramid. It also is simplifying recruiting procedures and adjusting initial training to take into account recruits’ skills when enlisting. The service was down 2,500 recruits from mission.

“We’re moving away from a rigid one-size-fits-all system to one that enables every individual to perform to their full potential,” she said at the annual Coast Guard dinner in March. “It’s a generational change in our approach to talent management.”