The Philippines and Vietnam will hold joint naval exercises to practice countering China.

Radio Free Asia reported on this.

The exercise will take place in the South China Sea, where a patrol ship of Vietnam’s coast guard will be deployed.

The Vietnamese ship is expected to stay there until Aug. 9.

The Vietnamese crew will participate in joint training exercises with the Philippine coast guard, including search and rescue, fire and explosion prevention, and maritime safety.

The two sides will offer training in responding to different scenarios in international waters, including aggressive actions by the China Coast Guard and Navy.

This is the first training of its kind between Vietnam and the Philippines.

During President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s state visit to Vietnam in January, the two sides signed understandings on incident prevention and maritime cooperation between coast guards.

Currently, both countries are under pressure from aggressive actions by Chinese ships near territorial waters, including those near disputed territories.

To face new challenges, the Philippines received support from Japan, which agreed to provide funding for the construction of patrol ships.

Militarnyi previously reported that the governments of Japan and the Philippines finalized the formation of the largest maritime security project in the world, under which the Philippine Coast Guard will receive Japanese ships.

Funded by an Official Development Aid loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency, the $507 million deal is the largest to date by Tokyo to the Philippines’ maritime law enforcement agency.