Japan, Australia may conduct South China Sea patrols with U.S., Philippines

The Philippines is in talks to possibly include Australia and Japan in planned joint South China Sea patrols with the United States, a senior diplomat said
on Monday, in another sign of concern over Beijing’s activities in the strategic waters.
“Meetings have already been set and probably we may have the Japanese and the Australians join in,” Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez told Reuters.
“They would like to join in for joint patrols to make sure that there’s the code of conduct and there’s freedom of navigation,” adding it was still “an idea under discussion”.
If the plan materialises, it will be the first time the Philippines has joined multilateral maritime patrols in the South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the sea as its territory.
The foreign ministries of Australia and Japan and the embassies of the United States and China in Manila did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.