MANILA: Joint maritime and air patrols in the South China Sea between the Philippines and the United States military were launched on Tuesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, describing it as a “significant initiative.”
The Philippine leader’s announcement comes amid a rapid strengthening of ties this year between the two defense treaty allies, including a decision to almost double the number of Philippine bases accessible to the US military.
“This significant initiative is a testament to our commitment to bolster the interoperability of our military forces in conducting maritime and air patrols,” Marcos said on social media platform X.
The announcement comes a day after Marcos told a forum in Hawaii the situation in the South China Sea had become more “dire than it was before,” saying the Chinese military have inched closer to Philippine coastline.
China claims most of the South China Sea through a “nine-dash line” that stretches as far as 1,500km (900 miles) south of its mainland, cutting into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of rival claimants such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Marcos had rekindled Manila’s ties with Washington after its testy relationship with a predecessor who had pivoted closer to China, despite Beijing developing military installations on manmade islands within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Relations with China have soared, with repeated standoffs between Chinese and Filipino vessels in waters claimed by both countries, prompting heated rhetoric between them and concerns of an escalation.
Philippines’ Marcos says joint patrols with US underway in South China Sea
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Philippines’ Marcos says joint patrols with US underway in South China Sea
- Philippine leader’s announcement comes amid a rapid strengthening of ties this year between the two defense treaty allies
Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
- Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue
MILAN: Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue on Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police held off the violent demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, after the skirmish. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including families with small children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (a half-mile) from the Olympic Village that’s housing around 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest, which also was against the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation.
US Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the US is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Association of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure project, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another last week when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like last week, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in US diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
