Vietnam’s coast guard visits Philippines for joint drills as both face maritime tensions with China
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Vietnamese coast guard ship arrived in Manila on Monday for a four-day goodwill visit and joint exercises as the two countries attempt to put aside their own territorial disputes in the face of rising tensions with China over control of key features in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and Vietnam are among the most vocal critics of China’s increasingly hostile actions in the disputed waters, a key global trade and security route. The neighboring Southeast Asian countries themselves have overlapping claims in the busy sea passage along with Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan and the disputes are regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China regional rivalry.
As the host’s coast guard personnel waved Philippine and Vietnamese flags and a brass band played under the morning sun at Manila’s harbor, a 2,400-ton Vietnamese coast guard ship with 80 crewmembers docked. Some of its officers saluted from the lower and upper decks of the 90-meter white ship.
