As the two allies attempt to counter Beijing’s goals in the contested South China Sea, the Philippine and US militaries started three weeks of joint exercises on Monday that will replicate a “full-scale battle scenario.”
The annual “Balikatan” or “shoulder to shoulder” drills are anticipated to involve as many as 17,000 employees. For the first time, they will include an integrated air and missile defense simulation, which President Ferdinand Marcos will attend.
The NMESIS anti-ship missile system is one of the more advanced American weapons that will be used, particularly in the waters around a vital chokepoint that separates the northern Philippines from independent Taiwan.
At the opening ceremony in Manila on Monday, US Marine Corps Lieutenant General James Glynn stated, “We will show not just our will to uphold our mutual defense treaty in existence since 1951, but our matchless capability to do so.”
“Nothing creates relationships faster than shared adversity,” he stated, without identifying any specific threat.
The 40th Balikatan exercises, according to Philippine Major General Francisco Lorenzo, would improve the nation’s capacity to meet “contemporary security challenges.”
Over contested regions of the South China Sea, the Philippines has been at odds with Beijing for months.
Since Marcos assumed power in 2022 and started resisting China’s broad assertions to the vital waterway, defense collaboration with treaty ally the United States has been increasing.
