Nearly 9,000 Philippine and US troops will participate in the 12-day joint exercise, signaling a deepening relationship.
Thousands of troops from the Philippines and the United States are taking part in the largest-ever joint exercise in the archipelago nation, as the two longtime allies draw closer together amid renewed tensions in the South China Sea. are in dispute.
The war games are the last under outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, who had previously threatened to cancel exercises and cut a key military deal with the US as he pivoted to China. Country.
Nearly 9,000 Philippine and US troops will participate in a 12-day training session, starting Monday, across the main island of Luzon, which is normally an annual event but has been canceled or reduced during the pandemic. Translate.
Philippine military chief Andres Centino said at the opening ceremony in Manila that the biggest round of the Balikatan war game reflects the “deepening alliance” between the two countries.
US Major General Jay Bargeron said the “friendship and trust” between their respective armed forces would allow them “to succeed together across the entire range of military operations”.
The exercises will include maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire training, counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief.
Recent exercises between the two countries have focused on potential conflict in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely.
Since coming to power in 2016, Mr. Duterte has moved closer to China, but has faced opposition from the Philippine public and the country’s military, concerned about its territorial ambitions in the sea.
Trillions of dollars of trade pass through the strategic sea, and it is believed to contain rich oil and gas deposits, making it a frequent source of friction in the region.
China ignored the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague that its historic claim was unfounded.
It has reinforced its stance by building artificial islands on some of the disputed reefs and installing weapons on them.
Tension soars
The future of war games was in doubt after Mr. Duterte said in February 2020 that he planned to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement, which provides the legal framework for the US to host war games. joint military exercises and operations in the Philippines.
But he reverted to the decision last July, when tensions between Manila and Beijing over the South China Sea add after discovering hundreds of Chinese boats parked on a reef off the Philippines.
On the eve of the joint exercise, the Philippine Coast Guard accused its Chinese counterpart of operating one of its ships within meters of a Philippine patrol boat near the disputed Scarborough Shoal – a flashpoint between the two countries. country.
That comes a few weeks after Manila confronted Beijing’s ambassador over a Chinese naval vessel “lingering” in Philippine archipelagic waters.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to media requests for comment on the war games or the Scarborough Shoal incident.
The exercises are being held in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US and its allies are supplying Kyiv with defensive weapons and imposing economic sanctions that cripple Moscow.
Duterte, who has a six-year term ends in juneexpressed concern that the Philippines was “engaging” in the conflict because of its security alliance with the United States.
That includes a mutual defense treaty and allows the US military to store defense equipment and supplies on several Philippine bases.
