By Robina Asido

Several European countries expressed their interest to join maritime cooperative activities (MCA) following the successful quadrilateral exercise in the West Philippine Sea last Sunday, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner on Thursday.

"After they saw the success of our multilateral MCA, they reached out to us," he said

"We're happy because they recognize the role of the AFP as the lead in asserting freedom of navigation and overflight in the area, plus the respect of international law and the international rules based order, we are the lead so they appreciate what we do," he added.

Brawner said the recent quadrilateral exercise between the Philippines, United States, Japan and Australian forces is not "not aimed towards China.

"It's a show of unity, not a show of force but a show of unity, unity of like minded nations who believe in the rules based international order," he said.

He also stressed that the Philippines and its allied countries are not violating any law during the conduct of maritime exercises.

"We did not violate any law, when we did that freedom of navigation in the area... the actual operation was inside our exclusive economic zone (EEZ)," he added. DMS