MANILA: The Philippines and the US began on Tuesday their largest joint military exercises in decades, a high-profile display of renewed ties between the allies that includes a live-fire exercise targeting a decommissioned vessel near the South China Sea.
More than 17,000 Filipino and US forces, as well as over 100 Australian counterparts, are involved in the annual drills known as Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — which this year will run up to April 28.
“For the Armed Forces of the Philippines in particular, this year’s Balikatan Exercise is most timely as we fast-track the enhancement of our capabilities for maritime security and domain awareness,” said AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino during the opening ceremony.
The allies will stage a live-fire drill at sea for the first time since the joint exercises began more than 30 years ago, wherein their forces will sink a target ship in the Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales, Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine executive agent for Balikatan, told reporters.
The location is at the rim of the South China Sea, a resource-rich waterway China claims almost in its entirety. Other countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, also have overlapping claims.
“They have to fire at a target that is so close to what we would expect in (an) actual threat, which is an intrusion coming from an adversary by the sea,” Logico said. “We are demonstrating that we are combat-ready, that we have the capacity to deliver fires on a target from the land, from the air and from the sea.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been briefed about the live-fire drill and is expected to witness it in person, Logico said.
Though Balikatan has been scheduled for months, its opening on Tuesday comes a day after China wrapped up three-day maneuvers around Taiwan that the island’s leader, President Tsai Ing-wen, said is causing “instability” in the region.
Beijing views Taiwan as its own territory, a claim rejected by the democratically governed island. China’s recent military exercises came in response to Tsai’s meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.
The Philippine-US exercises, however, should not be viewed as a response to developments in Taiwan, officials said.
“We just perform this exercise for the value of the training it provides,” Logico said.
The drills will be carried out in different parts of the Philippines and also include training in amphibious operations, aviation operations, cyber defense, urban operations, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian and disaster-relief.
“Balikatan is an important opportunity to train shoulder-to-shoulder and build trust and confidence that enable our forces to respond to crisis or contingency as a team,” Maj. Gen. Eric Austin, acting US exercise director, said.
“Many of the participants in this year’s exercise have trained together in the past and will enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with their brothers and sisters in arms. These relationships reflect the strength of our alliance.”
