Ahead of Modi-Marcos meeting, joint drill by Indian, Philippine navies in South China Sea irks Beijing

New Delhi: A joint naval drill by India and the Philippines in the South China Sea raised hackles in Beijing ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr of the Southeast Asian nation.

With Marcos commencing his visit to New Delhi on Monday, the warships of the Southeast Asian nation and India have embarked on a joint drill in the South China Sea, where Beijing’s expansive territorial claims have been contested not only by Manila but also the governments of other nations in the region.

The Indian Navy sent guided-missile destroyer INS Mysore, anti-submarine corvette INS Kiltan, and naval tanker INS Shakti to join the warships of the Philippine Navy for the drill, even as Modi and Marcos would meet in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss ways to step up bilateral cooperation, including in the areas of defence.

“Our bilateral relations have seen a measured and stable development that is both comprehensive in scope and multifaceted in nature,” Marcos said about the ties between India and the Philippines before leaving Manila. He said that shared democratic values, maritime interests, and regional peace provided the foundation for “deeper, broader, and more meaningful bilateral cooperation”.

Beijing’s view on the joint drill by the Indian and Philippine navies was conveyed by Global Times, a news portal linked to the Communist Party of China, which published a report quoting experts on the wargame. “The joint drills in the South China Sea are largely symbolic, aimed at highlighting India's political presence and signalling a greater willingness to intervene in regional affairs,” Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times. “This is more of a gesture politics than a substantive exercise,” Chen said, adding: “But it could send a misleading message to the Philippines, making it wrongly believe that India supports its position and will provide assistance regarding the South China Sea issue.”

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said that the Southeast Asian was strengthening defence cooperation with Australia, Japan, India and the US, and would take firm measures against China's “aggressive” behaviours in the South China Sea.

The South China Sea is a major waterway, and the sea lanes in this region account for over $3.25 trillion of international trade. It has been at the centre of a territorial conflict between China and its maritime neighbours, like Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines. An Arbitral Tribunal constituted on a request from the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 delivered a unanimous decision in 2016, rejecting China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. China, however, declined to adhere to the award of the arbitral tribunal.

India also joined the United States and other nations in reaffirming the need to pursue peaceful resolutions of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the UNCLOS. India and its partners in the Quad, Japan, Australia and the US, have also been opposing expansionist aspirations of China, underlining the right of freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the seas according to international law, particularly the UNCLOS.

Marcos noted that Manila and New Delhi shared a commitment to upholding international maritime law, including the UNCLOS and the 2016 Arbitral Award.

“The Philippines' attempt to draw India and other countries into joint exercises in the South China Sea reveals its intention to leverage the presence of extraterritorial powers to further stir up tensions in the region,” Ding Duo, director of the Research Centre for International and Regional Studies at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times. “Manila appears determined to frame the South China Sea issue as a global hotspot, to attract increased attention from the international community. By doing so, the Philippines seeks to highlight its so-called strategic or security value in an attempt to avoid being sidelined by traditional allies such as the US and Japan”.

New Delhi in June 2023 offered Manila a Line of Credit (LoC) to help it meet its defence requirements amid the increasing belligerence of China in the Indo-Pacific region. Earlier, in January 2022, the Philippines signed a contract worth about $ 374.96 million to procure three BrahMos supersonic cruise missile batteries manufactured in India in collaboration with Russia. The first BrahMos batteries were delivered to the Southeast Asian nation in April 2024. The Philippines is looking to procure more weapon systems from India, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr, the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said during a visit to INS Shakti, which was recently on a port visit to Manila. He noted that the Philippines had found military equipment manufactured in India to be of high quality, but less expensive than similar hardware offered by other countries.

India and the Philippines developed a strong partnership across a wide spectrum of areas, including trade and investment, defence and security, maritime cooperation, agriculture, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and digital technologies. The two countries also engage closely at the regional level, including through India’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.