LAOAG, Philippines — Military forces from the United States, Australia and the Philippines launched a barrage of high-precision rockets, artillery fire and airstrikes to sink a ship on Wednesday as part of large-scale war exercises in waters off the disputed South China Sea that have antagonized Beijing.
Military and diplomatic officers from several countries, along with journalists, watched the display of firepower from a hilltop along a sandy coastline in Laoag City on Wednesday in Ilocos Norte, the president’s northern home province. Filipino Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
More than 16,000 military personnel from the United States and the Philippines, backed by a few hundred Australian troops and military observers from 14 countries, were taking part in annual combat readiness exercises called Balikatan, which is Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder, which began April 22. . and will end on Friday.
It is the latest sign of how the United States and the Philippines have strengthened a defense treaty alliance that began in the 1950s.
Marcos has ordered his military to shift its focus from decades-long domestic anti-insurgency operations to external defense, as China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea become a major concern. That strategic shift dovetails with efforts by President Joe Biden and his administration to bolster an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China.
China has infuriated the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy and coast guard ships with the use of powerful water cannons, a military-grade laser, jamming and other dangerous maneuvers on the high seas near two disputed sandbanks in the South China Sea causing minor damage. collisions. These have caused several injuries to Philippine navy personnel and damaged supply ships.
“We are under pressure,” Philippine Ambassador to Washington José Romualdez told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
“We don’t have the means to be able to fight all this intimidation coming from China, so where else will we go?” Romualdez asked. “We went to the right party, which is the United States and those who believe in what the United States is doing.”
China has accused the Philippines of unleashing hostilities in the disputed waters by encroaching on what it says are its marine territories, demarcated by 10 dashes on a map. This has often led the Chinese coast guard and navy to take measures to expel the Philippine coast guard and other vessels from that area. The Philippines, backed by the United States and its allies and security partners, has repeatedly cited a 2016 international arbitration ruling based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that invalidated China’s claim to virtually the entire China Sea. Southern for historical reasons.
China did not participate in the arbitration claim filed by the Philippines in 2013, rejected the ruling and continues to challenge it.
After an hour of combat readiness exercises, black smoke began to billow from the stern of the mock enemy ship that was hit by missile fire and it began to sink, as shown on a monitor watched by the military and foreign journalists. . U.S. and Philippine warplanes later dropped bombs on the BRP Lake Caliraya, the target ship, which was manufactured in China but decommissioned by the Philippine navy in 2020 due to mechanical and electrical problems, according to Philippine military officials.
Philippine military officials said the exercises would strengthen the country’s coastal defense and disaster response capabilities and stated that they were not directed at any country. China has opposed military exercises involving US forces in the region, as well as increased US military deployments, which it warned would raise tensions and hamper regional stability and peace.
Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s increasingly assertive actions to defend its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and Beijing’s stated goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.
In February last year, Marcos approved an expanded US military presence in the Philippines by allowing rotating groups of US military forces to remain in four more Philippine military camps. That was a radical shift by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who feared that a larger U.S. military presence could antagonize Beijing.
China strongly opposed the move, which would allow US forces to establish operating bases and surveillance posts in the northern Philippines, across the sea from Taiwan, and in the western provinces of the Philippines facing the South China Sea.
China has warned that a deepening security alliance between Washington and Manila and its ongoing military exercises should not harm its security or territorial interests or interfere in territorial disputes. The Philippines responded that it has the right to defend its sovereignty and territorial interests.
“An alliance is very important to show China that it can have all the ships it has, but we have a lot of firepower to sink them all,” Romualdez said.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
