Australia will provide surveillance drones and other high-tech gear to the Philippine coast guard and is considering whether to take part in joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.Wong, who held talks in Manila with her counterpart, Enrique Manalo, also thanked the Philippine government for its help in the discovery of a ship that sank during World War II in the northern Philippines, killing nearly a thousand Australians "in a very sad chapter in our history."The United States and the Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, have been holding talks on proposed joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, where China has fortified its vast territorial claims by transforming disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases and deploying Chinese coast guard and militia ships on constant patrols.
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