SUMMARY
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines, the United States, Australia, and Japan successfully engaged in the first multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) in the West Philippine Sea on Sunday, April 7, “with no untoward incident that happened.”
In a statement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said all planned exercises were conducted within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Those who joined included the AFP, United States Indo-Pacific Command, Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Japan Self-Defense Forces.
The AFP said, “The MMCA demonstrated the participating countries’ commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific through interoperability exercises in the maritime domain.”
“It will also contri…