The Philippine Navy (PN) said sighting of nine Chinese Navy vessels, including a Chinese carrier, off the northern coast of Luzon will not affect the ongoing Philippine-US maritime drills,.

PN Commander Johanns Cruzada, the commanding officer of the BRP Ramon Alcaraz said “definitely, it will not have an effect on the ongoing joint maritime exercises. We will focus on our objective which is to enhance our interoperability and cooperation with other nations.

The PN recently reported presence of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels. These included the aircraft carrier Shandong (CV-17), six escort warships, and two support vessels.

The Multilateral Maritime Exercise (MME) is one of the major activities lined up for this year’s PH-US Balikatan Exercises.

Key activities for MME include communications exercises, cross-deck landing qualifications, division tactics, photo exercises, replenishment at sea, maritime search and rescue, and gunnery drills.

These activities involve naval the United States’ USS Savannah and USS Comstock and the Philippines’ BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Apolinario Mabini, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

The MME will run until April 29.

The AFP earlier said that this year’s exercise with expanded participation from regional partners “underscores a shared commitment to peace, security, and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”