US and Philippines Launch Largest War Drills in Disputed Waters

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On Tuesday, the United States and the Philippines started their biggest battle exercises in years. These drills include a rocket attack to sink ships in areas near the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. This probably won’t make China very happy.

This year, the US military and their allies in the Philippines will be doing an exercise known as Balikatan or ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ from now until April 28. It will involve almost 18,000 soldiers and is meant to show China that America won’t back down when it comes to their aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea or against Taiwan.

The Biden government is growing friendships in the Indo-Pacific to stand against China. The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is trying to guard its land in the South China Sea by having more military practices with the U.S. and enabling American soldiers to temporarily stay at Philippine army bases under a 2014 pact.

More than 17,000 soldiers are taking part in the largest Balikatan exercises ever. U.S. forces make up most of these troops with 12,200 soldiers alongside 5,400 Filipino troops and 111 Australian counterparts. Along with them will be U.S fighter jets, Patriot missiles, rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins to show off all their strength.

Col. Michael Logico, a spokesman for Balikatan in the Philippines said that by doing exercises, they are not trying to be mean to anyone. He added that this is actually a way of stopping people from attacking them. Deterrence means trying to make someone do something by scaring them so that they don’t want to invade us.

In a drill with real weapons, the United States and Filipino forces will attack a target ship that’s 200 feet long in Philippine waters off of Zambales. To do this, they will use all their weapons – which includes ground, naval, and air power.

The Philippines recently did a military exercise near the South China Sea across from Taiwan, and it was not meant as an attack on any other country. The U.S. Embassy in Manila said that the purpose of this exercise was to make sure both countries can do joint operations such as communication between units, intelligence sharing, and amphibious warfare together successfully.

Washington and Beijing are having a big disagreement due to arguments with China, the Philippines and four other countries. Additionally, Beijing wants to forcefully take control of Taiwan.

China has expressed worry about the American military becoming more active in that region. A spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said this kind of action will only cause trouble and make it less safe for people living in that area.

The activities in the Philippines called Balikatan began one day after China did some fake battles to pretend they were blocking Taiwan. This happened because Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen talked with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from America last week, which made China mad.

On Monday, the United States 7th Fleet sent out a destroyer called USS Milius close to Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. This reef is claimed by Manila, however it was taken away by China some time in the 1990s and now has seven small islands with missile protection around it as part of an area known as the Spratlys archipelago. The U.S. military does these types of things (called freedom of navigation operations) to push back against China’s attempt to control that busy sea area.

The U.S 7th Fleet stated that as long as some countries still deny people their rights, the US will keep on protecting everyone’s freedoms and liberties at sea. No one should be forced to give up their rights just because somebody says so.