Joint exercise Sama Sama in South China Sea enters key phase

Joint exercise Sama Sama, led by the Philippines and the United States, entered a crucial phase that simulated realistic scenarios in the South China Sea on the same day that China held military drills around Taiwan.

On Monday, China’s Eastern Theater Command held a large-scale exercise – Joint Sword-2024B – in the air and waters of the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan island to send “a stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” a term China normally uses to refer to the Taiwan government.

Just hours later, participating naval forces from the Philippines and the U.S. “successfully conducted a series of advanced maritime drills,” the Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP, said in a statement on social media.

They focused on “anti-submarine warfare and joint patrol operations,” it added. 

Sama Sama, or Togetherness in the Tagalog language, began last week and continues for two weeks in the waters off northern Philippines facing Taiwan. Its 2024 exercise also involves personnel from Australia, Canada, France and Japan, and observers from the United Kingdom.

The exercise’s area and those of the Chinese drills seemed quite distant from each other but analysts noted that China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier group had sailed into seas around Bashi channel between the Philippines and Taiwan a day earlier and was present to the east of Taiwan during Joint Sword-2024B.

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Key phase

According to the AFP’s statement, the drills on Monday included a Combined Anti-Submarine Exercise, or CASEX, where troops engaged in torpedo drills using the expandable mobile anti-submarine warfare training target, which simulates the characteristics of a submarine. in order to “hone their anti-submarine warfare techniques in a realistic and controlled environment.”

In addition to CASEX, they also conducted a joint and combined night-time patrol that simulated “real-world scenarios of patrolling contested waters.”

The U.S. Navy said in an earlier statement that ​​​​specialized teams, including ​diving and explosive ordnance disposal units​, “will conduct high-intensity drills focusing on anti-submarine warfare​, ​anti-​surface warfare​, ​anti-​air warfare​, and maritime domain awareness,” – which it said set Sama Sama apart as a more sophisticated exercise in both complexity and scope.

The participating personnel also conducted search-and-rescue, and shipboard casualty care drills, showing that they were “not only focused on combat readiness but also on humanitarian assistance and disaster response, integral aspects of modern naval operations.” 

The Royal Canadian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , and other allied navies will take part in later exercises, the AFP said.

Six parties including Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold claims to parts of the South China Sea but China’s claim is by far the most expansive. Tensions have risen recently between Beijing and Manila over some reefs, around which both sides have increased patrols.

Sama Sama, now in its eighth iteration, “reflects ​​the spirit of the decades-long partnership between allies in the region” and is not targeted at any country, the U.S. Navy said.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.