Philippine and US forces are to carry out maritime strike drills on a remote Philippine island near Taiwan during annual exercises that started yesterday, which the Philippine military chief said would test their readiness under “real-world conditions.”
The exercises known as “Balikatan,” or “shoulder-to-shoulder,” which are to run until May 8, would be the largest yet in terms of participating countries, with Australia included again and Canada, France, New Zealand and Japan joining as active participants for the first time, highlighting Manila’s widening network of security partnerships.
The exercises are to involve practising precision strike and interdiction operations in coastal waters of the Philippines, and are to feature integrated air and missile defense exercises, multinational maritime operations, and counterlanding live-fire drills.
Photo: EPA
Launching the exercises, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner said their purpose was to reaffirm the strength of their alliance and their responsibility to secure the region.
“We train across the breadth of our archipelago ... testing our readiness in real-world conditions across all domains,” Brawner said.
“Regardless of the challenges elsewhere in the world, the United States focus on the Indo-Pacific and our ironclad commitment to the Philippines remains unwavering,” US Marine Lieutenant General Christian Wortman said at the opening ceremony.
Photo: Reuters
More than 17,000 troops are taking part, including about 10,000 from defense treaty ally the US, even as Washington remains heavily engaged in the Middle East.
The exercises are to showcase newly acquired Philippine hardware, such as the BrahMos missiles, and allied capabilities that include Japan’s Type 88 anti-ship missile, to be used during a live-fire sinking drill.
The counterlanding live-fire drills are to take place in Zambales province on the South China Sea, about 230km from the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), a strategic atoll controlled by China, but which Taiwan and the Philippines also claim.
The Philippines and US are for the first time to hold maritime strike drills on the island of Itbayat , the northernmost point of the Philippines about 155km from Taiwan, demonstrating the area’s strategic location as tensions simmer over Taiwan.
China has repeatedly criticized the Philippines for conducting defense exercises with its allies, saying they risk raising regional tensions.
Asked about the drills during a regular briefing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the Asia-Pacific region needed peace and tranquillity, not external forces that create division and confrontation.
“We would like to remind the relevant countries that persisting in tying themselves together on security will only lead to setting themselves on fire and backfiring,” Guo said.
Wortman said that Balikatan had “no target nation” in mind.
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