The Philippines, Japan and the United States have completed a five-day joint naval exercise in the South China Sea, deploying warships and aircraft between 21 and 25 July in the latest iteration of what the three describe as the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity — the 17th such drill. The programme covered communications exercises, division tactics, cross-deck landings and fly-by operations.
The timing is the notable part. The exercise began the day after Manila said Chinese coast guard personnel had struck a Filipino sailor with a baton at Second Thomas Shoal, the incident this site reported on 22 July, and ran through a week in which the Philippines and China each described further confrontations in the disputed waterway.
In a joint statement the participants said the activity underscored "the enduring partnership among the partner nations in promoting peace, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific region." Manila refers to the waters within its exclusive economic zone as the West Philippine Sea; Beijing claims almost the entire sea and rejects the 2016 arbitral ruling against those claims.