TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Russian corvette conducts drills with Chinese warships in Philippine Sea
"The Pacific Fleet Sovershennyi corvette, together with a detachment of PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy warships ... conducted training to inspect a suspicious vessel during a joint naval patrol in the Philippine Sea," TASS cited the press service as saying.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Close quarters: Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Cabra encounters two Chinese Coast Guard ships blocking its path on Aug. 22, while sailing to Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. (AFP/Ted Aljibe)
A
Russian Sovershennyi corvette and Chinese warships conducted training exercises while patrolling in the Philippine Sea, Russia's TASS state news agency reported, citing the Russian Pacific Fleet press services.
"The Pacific Fleet Sovershennyi corvette, together with a detachment of PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy warships ... conducted training to inspect a suspicious vessel during a joint naval patrol in the Philippine Sea," TASS cited the press service as saying.
"During the episode of inspecting a suspicious vessel, Russian and Chinese naval sailors worked out an algorithm for joint actions."
No details were given on the origin of the "suspicious vessel".
Last week, the Philippines and China agreed to "de-escalate tensions" over the South China Sea, Manila said, following a violent clash in the disputed waters last month.
Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the hotly contested waterway but last month's incident was the most serious in a number of escalating confrontations.
Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine navy boats on June 17 during a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.
A Filipino soldier lost a finger in the clash, with Manila also accusing the Chinese coast guard of looting guns and damaging three boats as well as navigational and communication equipment.
Beijing insisted its coast guard behaved in a "professional and restrained" way and blamed Manila for the clash.
A handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a rusty warship deliberately grounded on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to assert Manila's claims to the area.
Philippine foreign affairs undersecretary Theresa Lazaro and China's vice foreign minister Chen Xiaodong had "frank and constructive discussions" on Tuesday, the Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement after the talks.
"The two sides discussed their respective positions on Ayungin Shoal and affirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without prejudice to their respective positions," the statement said, using the country's name for Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
