Joint drills with US troops to start next week

MANILA: Philippines and US forces will sink a target ship, retake an island and sail in waters facing the South China Sea in joint military drills that will start next week against the backdrop of maritime tensions with Beijing.

The exercises will “demonstrate our combatreadiness and showcase US and Philippines armed forces’ interoperability,” Colonel Michael Logico, who’s one of the organisers, told foreign correspondents in Manila yesterday.

Key drills will be held in Philippine areas near Taiwan and South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing are embroiled in an increasingly tense territorial dispute. Col Logico said the exercises are not directed at China.

The annual war games, called Balikatan — a Filipino word that translates to “shoulder-toshoulder” — will take place from April 22 to May 10 with around 16,770 personnel expected to participate. It comes more than a week after President Joe Biden reaffirmed the US’ “ironclad” commitment to the Philippines and Japan in the first trilateral summit of the nations’ leaders at the White House.

Australian and French troops will take part in some of the drills, while representatives from 14 countries including from Japan, India and Europe will observe, Col Logico said.

“Assuming everyone arrives, this will be the biggest,” yet of the annual drills, he said. Philippine civilian government agencies will also participate in cyber defence and information warfare exercises.

In a first for the yearly war games, US and Philippine navies and coast guards will sail beyond 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) off the province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, Col Logico said. The French Navy will also participate in the maritime exercise, he said.

In the northern province of Ilocos Norte, close to Taiwan, the troops will simulate the sinking of an enemy ship.