STARTING today, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will have a five-day joint exercise with China’s Coast Guard in search and rescue, fire fighting, and marine and environmental protection and operation at the PCG in Manila.
The joint exercise with the the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Coast Guard Corps vessel 5204 is the latest in a series that was launched after President Duterte and China President Xi Jinping signed 13 agreements in 2016 during President Duterte’s state visit to Beijing. The agreements were on economy and trade, investments, industrial development, agriculture, media, quality inspection, tourism, drug control, finance, infrastructure, and coast guard operations.
The primary task of coast guards is to undertake search and rescue missions, ensure the safety of seafarers and their vessels, along with enforcement of maritime law, border control, and maintenance of navigational marks. National coast guards coordinate with neighboring forces in these missions, which continue to grow in importance with the increasing development of regional and international commerce.
In 2017, the Philippines sought assistance from the United States and China in guarding the Sibutu Passage separating the Sulu archipelago from Borneo from Islamic militants who threatened to turn some of the southern islands into Somalia-style pirate havens.
The Philippine Coast Guard is acquiring new vessels for its fleet but it will take time to complete the program and is thus coordinating with neighboring forces, as in the 2016 rescue of two Filipino fishermen marooned by high waves at Scarborough Shoal. Last July, 2019, the Philippines joined a China-Vietnam Coast Guards meeting in Hangzhou, China, on maritime enforcement and security.
There are today certain areas in the South China Sea where there are overlapping claims which are also threatened by the rising problem of piracy as well as the usual disasters at sea, which call for cooperation and coordination by various coastal forces.
The joint exercise between the Philippine and Chinese Coast Guards this week will help develop close coordination that will help ensure the safety, security, and productivity of our shared seas, boosting the confidence of our seafarers, our commerce, and our national economies.
