The United States Coast Guard (USCG) will send assets to the South China Sea to support the Philippines in upholding its sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), in a statement, further said the USCG will deploy its North Pacific Coast Guard following the proposal of PCG Commander Ronnie Gil Gavan for a “greater deployment to address the forthcoming threat” as China is set to implement new regulations including detaining supposed trespasses in what it considers its maritime boundaries.
The proposal was made not only to the USCG but also to the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) during the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the PCG also disclosed.
“I’d like to propose greater deployment in the high seas. We will do our part, but we also need you to be there to maintain rules-based order the way Coast Guards should play their role,” Gavan, quoted by GMA News, said. “We know our limits, but we know we can do something to give time for our political leaders to do their part to keep the West Philippine Sea as free as it should be.”
USCG Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan confirmed her meeting with Gavan, as well as with JCG Vice Admiral Seguchi Yoshio, in Singapore, GMA News reported.
She noted the “increasingly central geopolitical role” the maritime law enforcement agencies play in the Asia-Pacific region.
“They must demonstrate professional behavior at sea in order to support good maritime governance, which is critical to global economic prosperity and security Malign activities such as human and drug trafficking, cyber-attacks, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing drive instability and threaten the rules-based international order,” Fagan said in a separate statement.
Earlier, the Philippine Navy reported an increase in the number of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels in the West Philippine Sea.
The Navy said 125 vessels were monitored in Philippine-occupied features in the West Philippine Sea from May 28 to June 3. These include 9 China Coast Guard vessels, 11 PLAN vessels, and 105 Chinese maritime militia vessels.
Meanwhile, senate President Francis Escudero has suggested raising the West Philippine issue to the level of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Escudero said although ASEAN is not known as a political association “it is still a forum where whatever’s happening in our region can be discussed.”
He also appealed for all parties to remain calm despite the recent actions committed by Chinese coast guard personnel, stressing that no one wants a war in the region.
