Netherlands Sent a Warship to the Philippines - China is Watching

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01][music] >> A Dutch naval frigate docks in Manila as the Philippines and the Netherlands celebrate 75 years of diplomatic ties.

[00:00:20]Uh what I think that Philippines and Netherlands are both partners in defending the international rule of law and specially the 2016 arbitral award.

[00:00:32]So, uh having this ship sailing through the through the South China Sea also underlines the importance of the freedom of navigation. A gray steel warship slides into Manila's harbor.

[00:00:46]Sailors stand at attention along the deck.

[00:00:49]But the flag flying above them is not American.

[00:00:52]It is not Japanese.

[00:00:55]It is Dutch.

[00:00:57]This week, the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS De Ruyter tied up in the Philippine capital and its arrival raises a simple question with a surprisingly big answer.

[00:01:08]Why is a European navy based nearly 10,000 km away suddenly part of the South China Sea conversation?

[00:01:17]>> [music] >> The short answer is this.

[00:01:23]The Philippines is no longer leaning on the United States alone.

[00:01:28]It is building [music] a wider circle of friends.

[00:01:30]And Europe, long seen as a bystander in Asia's waters, is starting to show up.

[00:01:37]Slowly.

[00:01:38]Carefully.

[00:01:40]But for real.

[00:01:51]The main reason here is as I said, to promote freedom of navigation, uh which is a vital role to the Netherlands in Europe because a lot of trade goes through this area to Europe. So, stability and freedom of navigation is in this area is really important for the Netherlands. The De Ruyter is an air defense and command frigate.

[00:02:08]It carries a crew of around 200 sailors and an NH90 helicopter on its flight deck.

[00:02:18]>> [music] >> It is in Manila as part of Pacific Archer, a 5-month [music] Indo-Pacific deployment that the Netherlands launched from its home port of Den Helder on April 12th, 2026.

[00:02:31]This is not a single, isolated stop. On its way east, the De Ruyter sailed straight through the dangerous Red Sea where it joined a European Union naval mission that protects merchant ships from attack.

[00:02:44]That passage was no formality.

[00:02:47]The crew trained hard for the threat of Houthi drones and missiles before slipping through one of the most contested stretches of water on Earth.

[00:02:54]The frigate then crossed the Indian Ocean, made its first major port call in Kochi, India in early May.

[00:03:02]And is now working [music] its way through Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.

[00:03:09]Later, it will join RIMPAC near Hawaii, the largest naval exercise in the world.

[00:03:17]Along the way, the ship is even helping enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korea.

[00:03:23]In other words, the visit to Manila is one chapter in a much longer voyage, a single deployment that touches Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

[00:03:36]That reach is exactly the point.

[00:03:39]We we are considering all options. I think for us, uh, we have an Indo-Pacific strategy as the Netherlands. I think we, uh, consider this region uh, crucial.

[00:03:50]Uh, stability and security in this region is also important for the Netherlands. So, that's why we are considering all all options, and I think the frigate visit is a first [music] step. The Netherlands wants to show that it can operate and matter across the entire route its trade depends on. The Manila stop carries extra weight.

[00:04:10]It lands in the very week the Philippines and the Netherlands mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.

[00:04:16]The Dutch ambassador, who has served 4 years in the country, wrote that the visit should be read not merely as a maritime presence, but as a symbol of diplomacy and friendship. He even pointed to a small, [music] charming coincidence.

[00:04:33]The Filipino word for together, sama-sama, sounds almost like the Dutch word samen and means the same thing.

[00:04:40]Two nations on opposite sides of the planet somehow speaking the same idea.

[00:04:53]>> [music] >> Manila is not just collecting flags for show. Each visit is a brick in a much larger wall.

[00:05:02]For decades, the Philippines relied mostly on its treaty alliance with the United States.

[00:05:07]But under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the country has been widening its defense network at remarkable speed.

[00:05:16]It now holds visiting forces agreements, deals that make joint training legal and simple with the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Canada.

[00:05:26]Talks with the United Kingdom are expected to begin soon.

[00:05:34]The Netherlands fits neatly [music] into this picture. Dutch leaders describe the Indo-Pacific as essential to Europe's own security and prosperity, and the De Ruyter's long voyage is that belief turned into steel and seawater. The port call is part of a policy, not a one-off courtesy.

[00:05:59]For continuing coverage of the Philippines expanding defense network, follow.

[00:06:14]>> [music] >> Distance is the first thing people notice.

[00:06:18]Why would the Netherlands [music] send a warship halfway around the planet for a few days in Manila?

[00:06:24]Trade is the honest answer.

[00:06:26]According to the Dutch ambassador, about 1/3 of the world's merchant fleet passes through the South China Sea.

[00:06:34]More broadly, over $3 trillion in goods crosses these waters every single year.

[00:06:43]A blocked or contested sea lane in Asia does not stay in Asia. It means higher prices and emptier shelves in Europe.

[00:06:51]For a trading nation like the Netherlands, that risk is personal.

[00:06:56]The Dutch commander said it plainly during the India stop. The mission is to visit like-minded countries and strengthen their diplomatic, economic, and security ties.

[00:07:11]And this is not a sudden experiment.

[00:07:13]Just 2 years earlier, another Dutch frigate, HNLMS Tromp, operated in the same region.

[00:07:21]The Netherlands is aiming for a recurring presence in Asia, not a one-time appearance.

[00:07:28]>> [music] [music] >> A goodwill visit can look soft and symbolic. It is neither.

[00:07:42]When two navies dock together, they swap radio procedures, practice safe maneuvers, and learn how the other side thinks and reacts.

[00:07:51]That may sound minor, but in tense, crowded waters it matters enormously. [music] Two navies that have trained together can communicate clearly in a crisis.

[00:08:01]Two that have never met can make deadly mistakes in seconds. This [music] is the real value behind the De Ruyter's stop.

[00:08:08]It builds trust and routine.

[00:08:11]It quietly turns strangers into partners before anyone actually needs them to be.

[00:08:26]None of this is happening in calm water in either the literal or the figurative sense.

[00:08:33]China claims almost the entire South China Sea.

[00:08:37]In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that this sweeping claim had no legal basis.

[00:08:48]Beijing rejected that ruling then and still rejects it today. Since then, Chinese Coast Guard and Navy ships have used water cannons, blocking moves, and risky close-range maneuvers against Philippine vessels.

[00:09:01]Pressure tactics that stop just short of open war.

[00:09:05]The friction is almost constant.

[00:09:07]>> [music] >> Just one day before the Philippines signed a major defense pact with France in March 2026, the Philippine military reported that a Chinese missile frigate had made an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver near Thitu Island, one of the country's key outposts in the disputed sea.

[00:09:31]>> [music] >> Against this backdrop, the Netherlands and other European partners line up firmly [music] behind international law and the 2016 ruling.

[00:09:41]And they keep calling for disputes to be settled peacefully, not by force.

[00:09:45]>> [music] >> This is the heart of the matter.

[00:09:57]And the honest answer is yes, but in a new and quieter way than the old superpower playbook.

[00:10:03]Today we signed the status of the visiting forces agreement between the Philippines and France only 1 year after His Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. authorized us to begin negotiations on this treaty. The clearest sign came in March 2026 when the Philippines and France signed a status [music] of visiting forces agreement in Paris.

[00:10:31]That deal made France the first European country to seal such a defense pact with Manila.

[00:10:37]It gives France and Filipino troops a legal framework to train together.

[00:10:41]French warships had already drilled alongside the Philippine Navy and they are expected to take part in Balikatan 2026, the Philippines' largest annual military exercise.

[00:10:53]>> [music] >> Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro called the agreement a celebration of convergence.

[00:11:02]Add the Dutch frigate sailing deep into Asian waters and the European Union's own call for a meaningful European naval presence in [music] the region.

[00:11:11]Uh we have an Indo-Pacific strategy as the Netherlands. I think we consider this region >> [music] >> crucial.

[00:11:18]Uh stability and security in this region is also important. And a clear picture forms. Europe is no longer just talking about the Indo-Pacific.

[00:11:27]It is sailing there.

[00:11:29]The trend goes beyond any single ship or signing. The EU's Indo-Pacific strategy now openly calls for more joint exercises, more port calls, and more help building the security capacity of partner nations.

[00:11:49]France keeps a permanent naval footprint in the region.

[00:11:53]Germany and the Netherlands have each sent frigates east in recent years.

[00:11:59]One deployment can be dismissed as a gesture. A pattern of them, repeated year after year by different European nations, starts to look like genuine policy.

[00:12:11]>> [music] [music] >> More European ships in Asian waters shifts the situation in three real ways.

[00:12:24]When more outside powers are watching the South China Sea, aggressive moves draw more eyes and more criticism.

[00:12:32]Coercion becomes more expensive in reputation and diplomacy, even when no shots are ever fired.

[00:12:42]A crowded room is a harder place to throw a punch.

[00:12:46]Every port call, drill, and shared exercise builds skill and connection.

[00:12:50]Navies learn to operate side by side, share information, and trust one another's signals.

[00:12:57]>> [music] >> If a real crisis ever arrives, the groundwork has already been laid in quieter times.

[00:13:04]For the Philippines, more partners means less dependence on any single protector.

[00:13:10]A country with five friends simply has more room to maneuver than a country with one.

[00:13:15]That freedom of choice is, by itself, a real form of strength and a hedge against being squeezed.

[00:13:22]>> [music] [music] >> Now for the cold water.

[00:13:33]One Dutch frigate does not flip the balance of power in the Pacific. Europe is adding [music] presence, but it is nowhere close to matching the size, staying power, or deterrent weight of the US alliance [music] network in Asia.

[00:13:47]American carriers, bases, and missiles still anchor the region's security.

[00:13:52]The Philippines and the United States have run more than 500 joint exercises and exchanges since 2024 alone.

[00:14:03]The De Ruyter, by contrast, will sail home in a few months.

[00:14:07]So, the effect is incremental, not revolutionary.

[00:14:11]More coordination.

[00:14:13]More signaling.

[00:14:15]More political weight placed on the side of international law.

[00:14:20]It widens the playing field, it does not redraw it.

[00:14:32]There are genuine downsides, too, and a serious analyst has to name them.

[00:14:37]Beijing can read every European deployment as another link in a containment chain being built around China.

[00:14:43]Seen that way, more ships can raise tension rather than lower it.

[00:14:50]Presence is not always calming.

[00:14:53]There is also the problem of staying power.

[00:14:56]These European visits are episodic.

[00:14:59]Here today, gone in a season. Unless they become regular, repeated, and tied to concrete help like training and equipment, critics can fairly dismiss them as symbolic gestures.

[00:15:10]>> [music] >> A single voyage is not yet a strategy.

[00:15:16]The direction is clear, the scale is not there yet.

[00:15:29]>> So, does a Dutch warship in Manila change the regional balance? Yes, but indirectly and far more quietly than the headline suggests.

[00:15:37]It does not change things through raw military dominance.

[00:15:40]It changes them through coalition building, shared training, and steady political signaling. Step by careful step, the Indo-Pacific is becoming less centered on a single superpower and more like a web of partners who watch out for one another.

[00:15:59]That is the deeper story [music] behind the De Ruyter's gray hull resting in Manila Bay.

[00:16:04]Europe is becoming a [music] real, if still limited, participant in Asia's security.

[00:16:10]The region is growing more crowded, more connected, and harder for any single power to dominate cleanly.

[00:16:18]>> [music] >> For the Philippines, that means more friends and more options.

[00:16:24]For the rest of the world, it means the rules of the sea now have more navies [music] willing to show up and defend them.

[00:16:31]If you found this analysis valuable, share your perspective in the comments.

[00:16:35]Your insights help deepen the conversation and sharpen our understanding of evolving regional dynamics.

[00:16:41]Thank you, and we will see you soon in our next geopolitical discussion.