MANILA: The armed forces of five countries conducted joint maritime exercises in a portion of the South China Sea today as China carried out its own military drills in the disputed waterway.
The exercises involving the Philippines, the US, Australia, Japan and for the first time New Zealand took place in Manilas exclusive economic zone and sought to improve the militaries interoperability, the Philippine armed forces said in a statement.
Todays exercises included a Philippine warship, the USs USS Howard, Japans JS Sazanami, and New Zealands HMNZS Aotearoa, it added.
Australias department of defence said the drills demonstrated our collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
The exercises follow a series of air and sea encounters between the Philippines and China, which have sparred over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asias most contested features.
The shoal has been occupied by Chinas coast guard for more than a decade.
On Wednesday, naval vessels from New Zealand and Australia sailed through the Taiwan Strait, part of the South China Sea.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait.
Both the US and Taiwan say the strait a major trade route through which about half of global container ships pass is an international waterway.
Australia has consistently pressed China on peace and stability in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said in a speech to the UN General Assembly today.
We have welcomed the resumption of leader and military level dialogue between the US and China, Wong said, according to a transcript.
Chinese air and naval forces conducted manoeuvres in a disputed area of the sea hours after the countrys top diplomat discussed ways of reducing regional tension with his US counterpart.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping maritime claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, angering its neighbours.