US Philippine marines hold drills

(MENAFN- Arab News) San antonio philippines: scores of us and filipino marines launched mock assaults on a south china sea beach in the philippines friday as a row escalates between beijing and its smaller neighbors over the strategic waters.

the drills part of annual war games between the two countries came after vietnam said its vessels were rammed by chinese ships protecting a deep-sea oil rig in disputed waters off vietnam's coast. the flare-up which saw counter-accusations from beijing which said its own vessels had been repeatedly attacked sparked concern from japan the united states and the european union about deteriorating security in the region.

the us-philippine exercises involving about 5500 troops included friday's drills on a beach about 220 km from scarborough shoal which china took control of two years ago after a stand-off with the much-weaker philippine forces.

three us rubber raiding craft and two small-unit filipino riverine boats practiced stealth landings from before dawn at the desolate beach inside a northern philippines navy base.

the teams of about 40 us and 80 filipino marines scrambled up the sloping shore with assault rifles to surround a mocked-up enemy tent before running back to their boats.

two filipino navy ships served as launch pads for the amphibious units.

'there was no specific scenario" us marines spokesman captain jeremy scheier said when asked if they had an enemy target in mind for the drills.

filipino foreign secretary albert del rosario said last week that the joint manoeuvres were designed to help the hosts boost their 'maritime capability" to address 'challenges" in the south china sea. china claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the south china sea which is also claimed in part by the philippines vietnam taiwan brunei and malaysia and is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits.

the latest flashpoint has been china's unilateral decision to move the rig into waters off vietnam triggering a serious confrontation between the two countries which fought a brief border war in 1979.

'we can expect a few more months of high tension between the two countries and things could get out of hand and shots could be exchanged" said ian storey a security expert at singapore's institute of southeast asian studies.

neither country was expected to back down he said though vietnam was expected to be 'on its own" in the confrontation.

us stoking tensions says beijing

beijing: china's foreign ministry blamed us on friday for stoking tensions in the disputed south china sea by encouraging countries to engage in dangerous behavior following an uptick in tensions between china and both the philippines and vietnam.

china this week accused vietnam of intentionally colliding with its ships in the south china sea after vietnam asserted that chinese vessels used water cannon and rammed eight of its vessels at the weekend near an oil rig.

the united states has called china's deployment of the rig 'provocative and unhelpful" to security in the region urging restraint on all sides.

chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman hua chunying repeated that the waters the rig was operating in around the paracel islands were chinese territory and that no other country had the right to interfere.

'the recent series of irresponsible and wrong comments from the united states which neglect the facts about the relevant waters have encouraged certain counties' dangerous and provocative behaviour" hua told a daily news briefing.