Philippines, US stage mock invasions in biggest war games ever | Military news

Laoag, Philippines Troops from the United States and the Philippines launched Javelin missiles and fired howitzers to simulate a maritime invasion along the South China Sea coast in a show of force closing out the exercises joint warfights organized in China's maritime backyard.

The live-fire exercises took place throughout the week along the shores of the coastal city of Laoag in northern Ilocos province, the closest mainland Philippine province to China.

They capped the largest joint Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder, military exercise ever between U.S. and Philippine troops, cementing a sweeping policy shift that has seen Washington and Manila become close allies since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president in 2022.

Tensions have risen amid multiple clashes between Philippine ships and Chinese coast guards in the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire area under its nine-dash line, which was rejected by an international tribunal in 2016.

Although the U.S. and Philippine militaries would not name their adversaries, this year's exercises were focused around the northern and western coasts of the Philippines, near the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Parts of the exercises also took place in waters outside the Philippines' 19 km (12 mile) territorial limit, as well as outside Manila's exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles ( approximately 370 km).

The Philippines and the United States have a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of Joint Task Force Balikatan, told reporters Monday. It is based on the search for peaceful solutions.

Make no mistake, if there cannot be a peaceful solution, we have an obligation to our countries to train together.

Philippine Army personnel fire their Autonomous Truck-Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS) during the Balikatan exercises this week. [Ted Aljibe/AFP]

Ilocos province lies in southeast China and just south of Taiwan, near areas of the South China Sea that would likely be at the center of any regional conflict over the disputed waters.

U.S. and Philippine militaries fired missiles and used howitzers stationed along the shore to sink five platoons replacing amphibious warships.

In northern Batanes, an island province just south of Taiwan, U.S. and Philippine forces simulated the recapture of Itbayat, the country's northernmost municipality.

The war drills drew a strong backlash from China, which managed to disrupt at least one live-fire exercise in the South China Sea. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.

A Chinese warship and two other vessels were spotted near Itbayat as the exercises were taking place, the Philippine Coast Guard said Wednesday. The ships left after the Coast Guard issued a radio challenge.

New weapons, equipment

This year's exercises also showed off new U.S. weapons that could be stationed in the Philippines in the event of a conflict.

For the first time in the Asia-Pacific region, the US military has deployed a new medium-range missile launcher, called Typhoon.

This year, exercises were held in the northern territories of the Philippines [Nick Aspinwall/AL Jazeera]

From the northern Philippines, it is capable of hitting targets in Taiwan, as well as Chinese bases and infrastructure in the South China Sea and mainland China.

It is the first such weapon deployed in the region since the United States withdrew in 2019 from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned the development of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 2,500 km.

Although the Typhoon system was not fired during Balikatan, its deployment now serves to identify launch sites that can be used during conflict, said Collin Koh, a senior research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

In war, all you have to do is go directly to these launch sites and you can set it up and fire immediately without further preparation, Koh said.

The U.S. and Philippine militaries also used a hovercraft to land a HIMARS missile system on the western island of Palawan, near disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Last year, the military unsuccessfully attempted to land a HIMARS system at the main port in Batanes. This year, the U.S. military upgraded the port, along with a warehouse and other military infrastructure, as part of an effort to develop functional seaports for unloading equipment and troops.

The longer you stay in port, the more vulnerable you are, Koh said. When you unload all your equipment and troops, you essentially find yourself an easy target.

Local anxieties

Last year, Washington and Manila announced that four military bases would be added to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, allowing US troops to use a total of nine military sites in the Philippines for training, resupply and other operations.

A C-Star surface-to-surface anti-ship missile is fired from the BRP Jose Rizal towards a conventional enemy during a maritime strike exercise this week [Armed Forces of the Philippines via AFP]

Three of these bases are in the northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela, both close to the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan.

The growing presence of military troops in civilian areas has alarmed some civilians, fearing that their location could expose them to a possible war between the United States and China.

We don't have to choose between the two, said Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province. I don't like foreign forces in my province because I feel like we could be drawn into a war that is not ours.

Mamba has staunchly opposed the development of bases in his province for U.S. troops and is part of a small but stubborn contingent of regional and local politicians who have resisted Manila's shift toward Washington. Marcos Jr's predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was much closer to Beijing.

Cagayan has received substantial investment from Chinese companies, including an ongoing effort to dredge and develop an international port in the coastal town of Aparri.

The U.S. military builds schools and distributes humanitarian aid during its annual Balikatan exercises, but Washington has never matched dollar for dollar the investment promises Beijing can make to local politicians.

Last month, the United States and the Philippines announced the creation of a new economic investment corridor in Luzon focused on ports, railways and clean energy.

Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province, worries about risks posed by US military presence [Nick Aspinwall/Al Jazeera]

Such U.S. investments would be welcomed in Cagayan if they are not military in nature, Mamba said. Maybe [it could be used] only by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in case of emergency.

In Laoag, where live-fire exercises took place, fishermen were ordered not to sail for more than a week. The order has cost some fishing boats as much as $60 a day in lost revenue, said Arvin Mangrubang, a priest at the Laoag branch of the Iglesia Filipino Independiente church.

Some communities have provided relief grants of around $9 per day to families registered to vote, which Mangrubang said is barely enough to cover the cost of the exercises for working families.

We can't gain anything from this, he said. If China reacts to these exercises, the Filipino people will suffer.

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