The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, launched their largest combat exercises in decades.
The exercises will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China.
The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan; Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder, will run up to April 28, 2023 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. It had been planned earlier.
It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and against Taiwan.
The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan.
That merges with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. and allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in more Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact.
About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts are taking part in the exercises, the largest in Balikatan’s three-decade history.
According to U.S. and Philippine military officials, America’s warships, fighter jets as well as its Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, would be showcased.
The focus of the Balikatan drills have evolved in recent years reflecting a shift in geo-security concerns in the region.
In the 2000s, it centred on counter terrorism drills after extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda carried out bomb attacks in southern Philippines.
However, China’s rapid military expansion and claims on territory in the disputed South China Sea, particularly on several Philippine islands, has prompted a wider response.
“We are not provoking anybody by simply exercising,” Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine Spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters ahead of the start of the maneuvers.
“This is actually a form of deterrence. Deterrence is when we are discouraging other parties from invading us.”
Col. Michael Logico
In a live-fire drill which the allied forces would stage offshore for the first time, Logico disclosed that U.S. and Filipino forces would sink a 200-foot (61-meter) target vessel in Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales this month in a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment.
“We will hit it with all the weapons systems that we have, both ground, navy and air,” Logico said.
Live-Fire Drill Not Aimed At Any Country
That location facing the South China Sea and across the waters from the Taiwan Strait would likely alarm China. However, Philippine military officials said the maneuver was aimed at bolstering the country’s coastal defense and was not aimed at any country.
Moreover, Philippine President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. emphasized on Monday, April 10, 2023, that the U.S would not be able to access military sites for offensive moves.
“China’s reaction [around Taiwan] is not surprising, since it has its own concerns. But the Philippines will not allow our bases to be used for any offensive actions. This is only meant to help the Philippines should the need arise.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Such field scenarios would “test the allies’ capabilities in combined arms live-fire, information and intelligence sharing, communications between maneuver units, logistics operations, amphibious operations,” the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.
The Balikatan exercises opened in the Philippines a day after China concluded three days of combat drills that simulated sealing off Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with U.S House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy last week in California that infuriated Beijing.
Washington criticized China’s display of firepower as disproportionate, while Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen stated that it was “irresponsible” and that she had the right to make visits to the US.
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