AFP retakes island in mock combat as China's navy watches

As Chinese warships and maritime militia vessels watched from a distance, various units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) engaged in interoperability exercises in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) on Wednesday, simulating the re-taking of an island from enemy forces.

- By MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN

As part of this year's "Armed Forces Joint Exercise Dagat-Langit Lupa," combined units from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the Philippine Army simulated clashes with enemy forces to reclaim Kota Island.

"This is not the first time that we conducted this kind of exercise, the island seizure, but this was the first time it was held on Kota Island so you can see that while we're doing the exercise, there were ships around sent by our neighbors," AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said.

"We saw People's Liberation Army Navy ships of China as well as militia vessels surrounding our area," he said.

He stressed the presence of foreign vessels in the vicinity did not affect the conduct of the exercise, as the AFP was actually expecting the Chinese to send ships to do some monitoring.

"We can also say that we are warning our neighbors or whichever external forces that we are capable of defending our islands. And not only that; we are capable of defending our islands unilaterally, meaning, just us," Brawner said.

The AFP chief said unilateral exercises were important because in the event of external attacks, the Philippines would have to initially rely on itself for defense "before we ask help from other countries like our allies or our partners." The simulated retaking of Kota Island ended with a PAF aircraft doing a bundle drop of supplies and provisions for troops who have recaptured the island.