The U.S. and Philippine militaries on Monday fired missiles and artillery against hypothetical “invader” forces during war games on the northern Philippines coast, days after both governments opposed China’s “dangerous” actions in regional waters. It fired.
The move comes amid escalating clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels around the shallow waters of the South China Sea, which is claimed by Manila, and increased Chinese air and naval activity around the nearby autonomous island of Taiwan. Thousands of troops are conducting land, sea and air exercises. .
U.S. troops converging on sand dunes on the northwest coast of Luzon, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) south of Taiwan, fired more than 50 live 155mm howitzer rounds at floating targets about 5 kilometers from the coast. said an AFP reporter. .
Philippine forces followed by firing rockets aimed at attriting the attackers, before both sides finished the mission with machine guns, javelin missiles, and other artillery shells.
Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said the exercise was to “prepare for the worst” by “securing critical maritime terrain.”
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“It’s designed to repel invasions,” Soderholm told reporters at the training range.
“The northwestern side of our country is more at risk,” Maj. Gen. Marvin Likudin, the Philippine military’s chief of exercises, told AFP ahead of live firing in the La Paz dunes near the city of Laoag.
“Because of the regional issues we have, we already need to practice and orient ourselves on our own land in these areas,” he added.
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The Chinese government claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite international rulings that the claim has no legal basis.
It has dispatched hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol and militarize its waters.
Just last week, Manila said on April 30 that a water cannon attack near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea controlled by China damaged a Philippine Coast Guard vessel and another government vessel, according to the Chinese Coast Guard. Announced.
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More than 16,700 Philippine and American troops are participating in an annual military exercise called Balikatan (Tagalog for “shoulder to shoulder”) held in multiple locations across the Asian archipelago.
The maritime standoff between China and the Philippines has raised concerns about a broader conflict that could involve the United States and other allies.
Monday’s exercises came days after the defense ministers of the Philippines, United States, Japan and Australia met in Hawaii and issued a joint statement strongly opposing China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea.
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Ministers discussed “opportunities to further advance defense cooperation” and “working together to support countries exercising their rights and freedoms in the South China Sea.”
Last week, U.S. forces participating in Exercise Balikatan fired HIMARS precision rockets into the South China Sea from West Palawan Island, the Philippines’ main landmass closest to the disputed Spratly Islands.
The US Marine Corps said the exercise was a rehearsal for the rapid deployment of missile systems across the Philippines’ South China Sea coast to “secure and protect the interests of the Philippines’ maritime terrain, territorial waters, and exclusive economic zone.” Ta.
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The conflict between the Philippines and China comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and Taipei, which are about to take office as the country’s new president, who is seen as a dangerous separatist by China.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that it had detected 26 Chinese aircraft and five naval vessels around the autonomous island in the past 24 hours.
“Military exercises are, to some extent, a form of deterrence,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo reportedly said in remarks made on his behalf by an aide at a public workshop on Friday.
“The more you simulate, the less you actually do,” he added.
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