Laoag (Philippines) – US and Philippine militaries fired Javelin missiles and fired howitzers in a simulated repulsion of a maritime invasion off the coast of the South China Sea, in a show of force capping held in China’s maritime backyard.
Live-fire exercises were held throughout the week along the coast of Laoag, a coastal city in northern Ilocos province, the Philippines’ closest mainland state to China.
These limit the largest-ever Balikatan (“shoulder to shoulder”) joint military exercise between the U.S. and Philippine militaries, a play that will see Washington and Manila become close allies since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. takes office as president in 2022. This solidified the policy change.
Tensions are rising in the South China Sea after multiple collisions between Philippine vessels and the Chinese Coast Guard. China’s territorial claims to almost the entire area below the nine-dash line were rejected by an international tribunal in 2016.
Both the U.S. and Philippine militaries have not named their rivals, but this year’s exercises focused around the Philippines’ north and west coasts, near the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
Some of the training took place in waters outside the Philippines’ 19 km (12 miles) territorial limits and outside Manila’s 200 nautical miles (about 370 km) exclusive economic zone.
“The Philippines and the United States have a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of Joint Task Force Balikatan, told reporters on Monday. “It is based on the pursuit of a peaceful solution.
“Make no mistake: If a peaceful solution is not possible, we have an obligation to both countries to train together.”
Ilocos Province is located in southeastern China, just south of Taiwan, close to an area of the South China Sea that is likely to be at the center of regional disputes over disputed waters.
Both the U.S. and Philippine forces fired missiles and used howitzers deployed along the coast to sink five platoons that were replacing the amphibious warship.
In northern Batanes, an island state just south of Taiwan, U.S. and Philippine forces simulated the retaking of Itbayat, the country’s northernmost municipality.
This war game elicited a strong reaction from China, which successfully disrupted at least one live-fire exercise in the South China Sea. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
The Philippine Coast Guard said Wednesday that a Chinese warship and two other vessels were spotted near Itbayat, where the exercise was being held. After the Coast Guard radioed the objections, the ship set sail.
new weapons and equipment
This year’s exercises also showcased new U.S. weapons that could be deployed in the Philippines during a conflict.
The US military has deployed a new medium-range missile launcher called Typhon for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region.
From the northern Philippines, targets in Taiwan can be reached, along with Chinese bases and infrastructure in the South China Sea and mainland China.
This is the first deployment in the region since the US withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, which prohibited the development of ground-launched ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 2,500 km.
Colin Koh, a senior research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that while the Typhon system was not launched during the Balikatan era, its deployment is now helping to identify launch sites that can be used during conflicts. Stated.
“In wartime, you can just go straight to these launch sites and immediately set up and fire without any additional preparation,” Coe said.
Both the U.S. and Philippine militaries also used hovercraft to land a HIMARS missile system on Western Palawan Island, near disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Last year, the military tried unsuccessfully to land the HIMARS system at the main port of Batanes. This year, the U.S. military renovated the port, along with warehouses and other military infrastructure, as part of an effort to develop a functional port for offloading equipment and troops.
“The longer you stay in the port, the more you’re at risk,” Coe said. “When you’re unloading all your equipment and troops, that’s when you’re essentially exposing yourself as a sitting duck.”
local anxiety
Last year, Washington and Manila announced they would add four military bases to their enhanced defense cooperation agreement, giving the U.S. military access to a total of nine military facilities in the Philippines for training, refueling and other operations.
Three of the bases are located in the northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela, both near the Luzon Strait, which runs between the Philippines and Taiwan.
The increased military presence in civilian areas has worried some civilians, who worry that their positions could put them in the path of a future U.S.-China war.
“We don’t have to choose one or the other,” said Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba. “I don’t like having foreign troops in my state, because I think we could get into a war that’s not ours.”
Mr. Mamba is a vocal opponent of developing U.S. military bases in his province and is one of a small but stalwart group of local politicians who have resisted Manila’s tilt toward Washington. Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was much closer to Beijing.
Cagayan has received significant investments from Chinese companies, including continued efforts to dredge and develop an international port in the coastal city of Apari.
While the U.S. military builds schools and distributes humanitarian aid during the annual Balikatan exercise, Washington has never competed dollar-for-dollar for the amount of investment Beijing can promise local politicians.
Last month, the United States and the Philippines announced a new economic investment corridor for Luzon that will focus on ports, rail, and clean energy.
Mamba said any U.S. investment in Cagayan would be welcomed “as long as it is not military in nature.” “perhaps [it could be used] This will be carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines only in case of emergency. ”
Fishermen in Laoag, where the live-fire exercise was held, were ordered not to sail for more than a week. The order has cost some fishing boats up to $60 a day in income, said Iglesia Filipino Independiente Church Laoag branch priest Irvin Manguruban.
Some communities are providing relief payments of about $9 a day to households that are registered to vote, but Mangleban said this is hardly enough to cover the cost of the exercise for working families. said.
“We get nothing out of it,” he said. “If China reacts to these exercises, the Filipino people will suffer.”
