The recently concluded multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) conducted by the naval forces of the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines is part of the country’s shift to an external defensive posture, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday.

Teodoro said the country’s engagements with like-minded nations were vital to protecting Philippine territories, particularly its sovereign rights over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under international laws and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“The Philippines is changing its defense paradigms, strengthening its capabilities, and leveraging alliances with allies and like-minded nations,” Teodoro said.

He said the multilateral engagements would enable the Philippines to become an effective partner of other countries in “ensuring freedom of navigation, overflight, and security in international waters.”

“As an archipelagic country, it both upholds and champions a rules-based global order, especially in the maritime domain, where the primacy of UNCLOS is well-established and enshrined in the 2016 arbitral award,” he said.

The Philippines recently announced its implementation of the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC), which allows the country to defend its sea lanes of communication and all of its maritime territories.

Teodoro earlier stressed that the CADC aims to develop the country’s capability to protect its entire territory, including its EEZ, to ensure that the next generation of Filipinos will be able to enjoy its natural resources.

The MMCA was conducted in the West Philippine Sea on 7 April, participated in by the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar with an AW109 helicopter, the BRP Antonio Luna with an AW159 Wildcat anti-submarine warfare helicopter, and the BRP Valentin Diaz from the Philippine Navy; the USS Mobile with a P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft from the US Navy; the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Warramunga and a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft; and the JS Akebono from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces.