Manila says exercises with Australia, Canada in flashpoint maritime area demonstrates a ‘commitment’ to defence cooperation with ‘like-minded nations’.
Published On 28 Aug 2025
Australia, Canada and the Philippines have conducted joint exercises off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing, deploying three warships and military aircraft in air defence exercises.
The Philippine military said on Thursday that the joint naval drills east of the Scarborough Shoal – a flashpoint for confrontations with Chinese vessels – focused on simulations to counter aerial threats “through coordinated defensive measures”.
Sailing from a western Philippine province of Palawan, the Philippines’ ship Jose Rizal, Australia’s HMAS Brisbane, and Canada’s HMCS Ville de Quebec participated, the military said, adding that the drills reaffirmed “the Philippines’ commitment to advancing defence cooperation with like-minded nations”.
China and the Philippines both claim the Scarborough Shoal and other islands, islets and reefs in the South China Sea, while Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway.
China did not immediately issue any comment on the drills, The Associated Press news agency reports, but Beijing has repeatedly warned that it would defend the shoal and outlying waters, which it claims as its own territory.
Video footage and photographs released by the Philippine military showed at least three warplanes taking part in the drills with the three ships, as well as at least one heavy-lift military helicopter.
Exercise ALON Naval Forces Forge Stronger Cooperation As Maritime Exercises Conclude Off Bajo De Masinloc
The Philippine Navy, together with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, successfully concluded a multilateral maritime exercise east of Bajo de Masinloc on… pic.twitter.com/l6Pz4ifv1r
— Armed Forces of the Philippines (@TeamAFP) August 27, 2025
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The joint naval drill marked the final activities of the largest military exercises Australia has staged with the Philippines – Exercise ALON 2025 – involving more than 3,600 military personnel taking part in 15 days of live-fire drills and manoeuvres that are due to conclude on Friday.
Australian Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Raven was quoted by the Philippines Daily Inquirer as saying the exercises were “the largest airlift of Australian combat forces since the 1999 East Timor mission”, when Australia led a multinational peacekeeping force in response to a security and humanitarian crisis.
“This shows we can deploy a combat-ready and combat-capable force within the Indo-Pacific to assist a security partner such as the Philippines,” Raven said, according to the Inquirer.
One of the most sensitive areas in the South China Sea, the Scarborough Shoal has been closely guarded by China’s forces, and on August 11 witnessed an accidental collision between a Chinese navy ship and a Chinese coastguard vessel as they tried to block a Philippine coastguard vessel near the shoal.
The Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that the Chinese coastguard ship is now under repair at Hainan Island, the first confirmation that the badly damaged vessel made it back to port after the collision, which was caught on video by the Philippines.
Satellite images provided to Reuters by Maxar Technologies show the vessel with a crushed bow flanked by tugs alongside a dry dock at the Yulin naval base near Sanya, a city on Hainan.
Chinese officials have not commented on the collision, but Beijing has accused Philippine vessels of conducting “dangerous manoeuvres” without referring directly to the collision.
Sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal has never been established.
A landmark 2016 ruling on the South China Sea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected Beijing’s sweeping claims to the entire maritime region, but the court was not tasked with establishing sovereignty over particular features.
The court also ruled China’s blockade of the shoal violated international law and said the area was a traditional fishing ground for several countries.
China rejects the ruling and continues to press its territorial claims in the sea backed up by its naval, coastguard and militia vessels.