Coast guard vessels of the Philippines and the US on Tuesday for the first time took part in joint maritime exercises with naval and air force units in the contested South China Sea, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said yesterday.
The exercises, held in waters off Palawan and Occidental Mindoro, involved the Philippine Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, alongside the US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton and a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
The “maritime cooperative activity” (MCA), which was the second for the year and sixth overall since the allies launched the joint activities in…