Treaty allies Philippines and US are set to deploy around 14,000 troops in joint annual military exercises that come on the backdrop of simmering tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

“What we are looking at here is an exercise verging into a full battle test,” Philippine Brigadier General Michael Logico, drill director, told reporters on April 15. “We are treating the exercise as a rehearsal for our defence.”

The annual war games called Balikatan – a Filipino word that translates as shoulder-to-shoulder – will take place from April 21 to May 9.

A mobile coastal anti-ship missile system will be used for the first time, according to Mr Logico. Philippine and US forces will also aim to sink a target ship and retake an island, as they did in the drills in 2024, he said.

“Quite an interesting mix of equipment we are bringing this year,” US Marine Corps Colonel Doug Krugman told reporters.

Drills will be held in Philippine areas near Taiwan and South China Sea, a vital waterway for global trade that has become a flashpoint for tensions in recent years.

It will include 9,000 US troops and 5,000 Filipino counterparts. Australia will send troops while Japan, the Czech Republic and Poland, among others, will observe the exercises, Mr Logico said.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to a mutual defence treaty in a visit to the Philippines in March.

Mr Hegseth also pledged to deploy additional advanced capabilities to the South-east Asian nation amid threats from China.

Philippine and Chinese vessels clashed on several occasions in the contested waters in 2024 as Manila asserted its own claims. 

China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG

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