Chinese threat: Philippines wants India to join security grouping 'Squad'

Referring to China as “our common enemy”, General Romeo S Brawner, chief of staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines, on Wednesday said that the island nation is keen to see India join a security grouping that is informally called the Squad.

 

He mentioned it during a session on securing sea lanes for trade at the Raisina Dialogue. 

Although still in the making - among the island country, the United States, Japan and Australia -the Squad seeks to counter China’s power assertions in the South China Sea region. “We find commonality with India, because we have a common enemy. I am not afraid to say that China is our common enemy. It’s important that we collaborate together, maybe exchange intelligence,” Brawner said. 

While the Squad is not a formal military or defence architecture yet, it is important that “like- minded countries” work together in areas such as sharing military intelligence, and conducting joint drills and operations, he said. 

The reasons for wanting India to be on board the informal security grouping are because “India plays a very important role in the security of the Indo-Pacific region” and the Philippines has growing defence cooperation with India, Brawner said. Brawner met India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Wednesday. India has not made any public announcement, but an Indian government source confirmed the meeting took place. 

India delivered the first batch of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines in April 2024. The deal of $375 million, signed in January 2022, was for three batteries of shore-based, anti-ship variants of the missile. This also made the Philippines the first export customer for the missiles that are jointly made by India and Russia.

 

The Philippines has also bought military gear, including helmets and vests from India, and the two countries have sent students to each other’s military academies.

 

Brawner said China has militarised large parts of the South China Sea by creating artificial reefs and is “creeping into our sovereign waters” and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

 

China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has ongoing disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam. In China’s “standard map”, a U-shaped line of some 700 nautical miles starts from Hainan province in southern China and goes through the exclusive economic zones of the five other countries. An international court in The Hague ruled in favour of the Philippines in 2016, saying that China’s “nine-dash line” has no legal basis. China has since drawn a “10-dash line” in its maps.

 

“This is preparation for something bigger,” Brawner said about China “spending money on reclaiming reefs”.

 

“What China is doing is existential for us. It is important that we not only develop our self- reliance, but also partner with like-minded nations,” Brawner said.

 

China is “looking at Taiwan and the control of the sea lanes and trade routes”, he added.

 

China sees the self-ruled island of Taiwan as a breakaway province that it seeks to “reunify” with itself, with force if necessary.

 

India is part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, along with the US, Japan, Australia. The grouping’s summit is scheduled to be held in India later this year.