Recently, the military forces of the Philippines, Japan, and the United States sailed together within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. This activity was part of a special mission called the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA). The purpose of the MCA is to help the three countries work better together to face security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, which includes areas around the South China Sea.
According to Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, a spokesperson for the Philippine Navy, the countries are allowed to sail freely in the area under international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He explained that these freedom-of-navigation operations happen on the high seas, not in any country’s territorial waters. This means that the ships were sailing in open waters, where they have the right to be.
