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Agence France-Presse

Thousands of US and Filipino soldiers will on Monday launch annual war games that this year are being seen as a show of strength in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.
The 11-day Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises are expected to show how the Philippines, though severely outgunned, can counter China with the help of the United States, its longest-standing ally.
China has in recent months built massive structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reefs and outcrops in the contested South China Sea, sparking international concern.
Beijing lays claim to almost all of the waters, which are important for international shipping and believed to hold valuable mineral and energy deposits, and neighbouring countries fear China could impose military controls over the entire sea.
US plans third patrol near disputed islands in South China Sea
The joint manoeuvres come ahead of a decision this year by a United Nations-backed tribunal on a legal challenge by Manila to China’s territorial claims.
Adding to the tensions, the Philippines is preparing to host US troops in five bases under a defence pact born out of US President Barack Obama’s plan to reassert American influence in the Pacific.
Balikatan has evolved from counterterrorism manoeuvres against Islamic extremists like the Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf, to simulations of retaking and protecting territory as disputes with Beijing have escalated.
However, Filipino and US officials insist the exercises are not explicitly aimed at China.
Balikatan spokesman Captain Celeste Frank Sayson said 55 US aircraft would take part in the drills, while the Philippines will deploy fighter jets it has recently acquired.
While no specific staging areas have been disclosed, the two allies have in recent years held war games at air bases just 230km from the disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Rene de Castro, an international studies professor at the De La Salle University in Manila, said the drills appeared to have China’s expansion in the South China Sea in mind.
“Looking at the features of Balikatan – the mobile missile-launchers, the fighter planes – that is an indication that the alliance is being geared for territorial defence,” he said.
Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science professor at the De La Salle University in Manila, added that the exercises “aim to enhance interoperability among allies nations and signal their preparedness to confront China if necessary”.
The Philippine military said the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), designed to shoot down aircraft, will be sent to Palawan, the Philippines’ westernmost island on the South China Sea, during the war games.
The Philippines operates one airstrip in the South China Sea, on Thitu island, where there are around 350 civilian residents.
It also keeps small military contingents in smaller outcrops, including Second Thomas Shoal, where Marines are stationed on a decaying second world war ship.
The Philippines, which has one of the weakest militaries in the region, has sought to counter China’s overwhelming military advantage by improving ties with the United States and Japan.
While it has acquired new fighter jets and surplus US naval ships, the Southeast Asian nation still has far to go, De Castro warned.
China’s defence budget dwarfs that of the Philippines and Beijing is this year set to outspend its smaller neighbour by a factor of around 60.
The Philippines is also increasing its military engagements with the US with the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, which took effect in January.
Under the deal, US troops will rotate through five military camps including two air bases that are strategically positioned near the South China Sea.
“It is very apparent that the thrust of [the agreement] is air power,” said former national security adviser Roilo Golez.
Australia, which recently criticised China’s assertiveness in the disputed waters, is sending 80 troops to join parachute drills as part of the manoeuvres, Sayson said.
Obama this week confronted Chinese President Xi Jinping (习近平) over Beijing’s actions in the disputed seas.
Tensions have flared between the superpowers since the US sent warships close to disputed islands twice in the past six months.


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South China Sea

US, Philippines hold war games as Beijing flexes muscles in region

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 20, 2015 shows Philippine soldiers and a US army soldier (C) from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat of the 5th Infantry Division based in Hawaii taking their positions after disembarking from a C-47 Chinook helicopter during an air assault exercise inside the military training camp of Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija province north of Manila, at the start of the joint US-Philippines annual military exercise. Thousands of US and Filipino soldiers will on April 4, 2016 launch annual wargames that are this year seen as a show of strength in the face of China's increasing assertiveness in the region. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

China accuses Philippines of ‘provocation’ for seeking international arbitration to resolve territorial disputes in South China Sea

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China wants talks with the Philippines over territorial claims, but Manila has rejected its overtures . Photo: Kyodo

Protesters burn a mock missile during a rally near the Chinese Consulate in the financial district of Makati city, Philippines, to denounce the alleged deployment of surface-to-air-missiles by China on the disputed islands off South China Sea, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016. The protesters are calling on China to halt its island-building on some of the disputed islands and its alleged increasing militarization. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

US and Philippines agree on locations for five new military bases, including one in South China Sea

A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre in the Spratly Islands. Photo: Reuters

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