French participation in war games may keep world’s eye on China

INCLUDING France in the Philippines’ joint sail with the United States as part of the two treaty allies’ annual military drills next month could draw more international attention to China’s aggression at sea, political analysts said on Thursday.

The three-way sail is among the key activities in this year’s Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercise, which will be held beyond the Philippines’ 12-nautical-mile territorial waters in the South China Sea for the first time since it started in 1991.

“Including France in this activity is a sign of the Marcos administration’s drive to expand and deepen its defense partnerships, and to draw more international attention to China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea,” Raymond M. Powell, a fellow at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said in an X message.

Balikatan executive agent Michael Logico on Wednesday said a group sail is a combination of division tactics, search and rescue, and board and search and seizure exercises.

Group sails have been held in past Philippine-American war games, but only inside the 12-nautical mile territorial waters of the country, he told a news briefing.

“We will be utilizing the western side of Palawan, extending beyond our 12 nautical miles so this is also a new thing,” he said. “In previous exercises, we’ve been limited to just 12 nautical miles, now... we are venturing outwards.”

Mr. Powell said holding combined naval exercises outside a nation’s territorial sea is a normal military activity and should not be seen as provocative. “Even so, it deserves notice as a sign of Manila’s concern over the erosion of its maritime security and Beijing’s growing aggression.”

At least four ships from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and one from the French Navy are expected to join the sail, while the US has yet to say how many of its Navy ships will participate.

The Philippines and US have a visiting forces agreement, which is the basis of their military exercises.

The Southeast Asian nation and France have yet to finalize a similar deal, but Paris could join the sail since it will be held outside the territorial waters of the Philippines, Mr. Logico said.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have worsened, and a Chinese envoy earlier this year said their relations were at a crossroads.

A United Nations-backed arbitral tribunal in 2016 favored the Philippines in its case against China, as it ruled Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea were illegal.

Chester B. Cabalza, founder of Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation, called the upcoming sail among Manila, Washington and Paris a “collective deterrence from like-minded democratic countries upholding a rulesbased order in the maritime domain.”

“It will send a united message on the need to uphold the principle of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

Mr. Cabalza said group sailing beyond a country’s 12-nautical mile exclusive economic zone is acceptable “in the spirit of freedom of navigation operation.” “This is not a violation of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) as the Constitution of the seas.”