South China Sea Photo: VCG

India reportedly plans to send warships to join South China Sea patrols next week — a move that American media hailed as "a clear signal" of support for the Philippines in its disputes with China. However, a Chinese analyst said that India's real aim may be to sell arms to Manila and that, while the Philippines invites other countries into drills to counter Beijing, each partner pursues its own agenda — offering little genuine assistance and only complicating regional dynamics.

On Wednesday, Newsweek cited New Delhi Television Ltd. report as saying that Philippine and Indian naval forces will carry out a maritime cooperative activity in the Philippines' "exclusive economic zone" from August 4 to 8. It also noted that the exercise, the first between the two countries since 2021, is set to commence after an August 2 port visit in Manila by four Indian warships.

The Newsweek report cited an analyst as saying that the exercise "sends a clear signal" that "India is signaling to be overtly supporting the Philippines in the South China Sea row with Beijing."

However, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that from a military standpoint, if India truly attends exercises off the Philippine coast, its real purpose may be to showcase its naval prowess and seize the opportunity to market and export its weapon systems — most notably the BrahMos missile — to Manila.

The Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday that Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will make his first visit to India since becoming president in 2022 from August 4 to 8 and to "take forward economic and security ties." The report noted that "the Philippines has also emerged as a key buyer of Indian defense hardware. In 2023, it became the first country to take delivery of the BrahMos cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia." 

Song noted that politically, India and the Philippines are deepening strategic ties; but India's "support" is transactional — using joint drills to pitch arms sales. Also, their views on China are different - India views itself as capable of handling China bilaterally, while the Philippines, lacking that capacity, must court powers like the US, Japan and India to counter Beijing.

However, external powers aren't genuine allies of the Philippines but use it as a pawn to check China or dump second-hand arms. With no collective defense pact and a far weaker military, Manila gains nothing substantive — these drills merely serve each country's self-interest and further complicate regional tensions, said the expert. 

At a press conference on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that any defense or security cooperation between the Philippines and other countries should not target any third party or meddle in the South China Sea disputes, still less provoke confrontation or escalate tensions in the region.

The Philippines is a genuine troublemaker and a creator of danger in the South China Sea, said Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

Zhang made the remarks at a press conference on Wednesday in response to a query regarding the Philippine defense chief's claim that the Philippine military will respond to China's "aggressive" actions in the South China Sea and that the Philippine side is strengthening defense cooperation with the United States, Australia, Japan and India.

Such remarks are a complete distortion of the facts and an attempt to shift blame, said Zhang.

The territorial scope of the Philippines was defined long ago through a series of international treaties, and the islands in the South China Sea are not within the Philippine territory, according to the spokesperson.

Global Times