The report also stressed that one of the principal objectives of the naval drill was to integrate information warfare systems with air and naval forces noting that the exercise was conducted “in a complex electromagnetic environment”.
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Both sides launched dozens of missiles and torpedoes and fired thousands of shells.
The Philippines’ military expressed little concern Wednesday over China’s live fire drills in the disputed South China Sea, but while underlining that the country must be transparent so neighbors do not feel threatened. In 2012, the country’s first aircraft carrier was commissioned and added to its already impressive array of maritime fleets.
Padilla’s comments came in the wake of Chinese state media reporting that air and sea drills were conducted Tuesday in the South China Sea – which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea – without specifying where they had been held.
China claims about 90 percent of the resource-rich area while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
“China takes out applicable events in to table their personal conflict and interact in seam design within the South China Sea”.
“We have been very transparent whenever we have exercises we tried to invite observes…to say and indicate that what we are doing is above board and that we are not threatening anyone”, Colonel Restituto Padilla, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines said.
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He said it was natural for the Chinese exercises to be criticized as muscle-flexing, saying “any kind of military exercise is always subject to the interpretation of an outsider”, but in the AFP’s view, “that being their right, puwede nilang gawin ‘yun (they can do that)”, so long as they do not violate any code of conduct or intrude into other country’s territory. “So, having initiated that action in agreement with all other allies, we are hoping that other nations, China included, will be as transparent … so that there are better opportunities for discussion and dialogue instead of no connection at all”. The Philippines is set to increase its defense budget by about 25 percent next year.
