US, Philippine forces conduct combat drills to brace for crisis in troubled region

More than 2,500 marines from the United States and the Philippines participated in combat drills on Monday in preparation for any crisis in a region that has been on edge due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and rising tensions regarding Taiwan.

According to military sources, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the newly elected president of the Philippines, has participated in the annual military drills for the first time with the longtime treaty friends. He disapproved of military drills involving American forces because he believed they may anger China. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was a vocal opponent of American security policies.

Called Kamandag, the Tagalog acronym for “Cooperation of the Warriors of the Sea,” the drills involve 1,900 U.S. Marines and more than 600 mostly Philippine counterparts in mock amphibious assaults and special operations, USand Philippine military officials said. America’s HIMARS missile launchers and supersonic fighter jets will take part in live-fire maneuvers that will end Oct. 14, they said.

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The venues include the northern Philippines, across the Luzon Strait from Taiwan, and the western island province of Palawan, which confronts the South China Sea.

The exercises, according to Philippine Rear Admiral Caesar Bernard Valencia, would concentrate on bolstering coastal defences and are not targeted at any particular nation.

According to him, South Korean and Japanese military may join disaster response drills but will only be present as observers.

Approximately 3,000 military troops from the two sides are participating in combat drills between US Marines and Japanese army forces on Hokkaido, an island in northern Japan, at the same time as the military exercises, according to USmilitary officials.

The simultaneous exercises, according to USMaj. Gen. Jay Bargeron of the 3rd Marine Division stationed in Japan, are intended to strengthen the defence capacities of the USalliances with the Philippines and Japan "through realistic joint training."

“These exercises will allow our forces to strengthen interoperability and readiness to ensure we are prepared to rapidly respond to crisis throughout the Indo-Pacific,” Bargeron said in a statement.

“Our strength, resolve and commitment to our allies and partners in the region are our most effective deterrent,” US Marine Lt. Col. Kurt Stahl told The Associated Press. “Together, we can deter potential adversaries from ever testing our capabilities or our relationships.”

In July, USSecretary of State Antony Blinken urged China to abide by a 2016 arbitration decision that rejected Beijing's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea and cautioned that if Filipino forces, vessels, or aircraft are attacked in the disputed waters, the United States is obligated to defend the Philippines under a 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

After the Philippine government complained in 2013 about China's acquisition of a shoal off its northwest coast, an arbitration tribunal established in The Hague in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea rendered the decision. China refused to take part, referred to the arbitration ruling as a fraud, and has since continued to challenge it.

In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway, which is said to be rich in underwater gas and oil resources and through which an estimated $5 trillion in commodities travel annually.

Long-running maritime disputes and difficult relations between China and Taiwan have emerged as major fronts in the competition between the United States and China.

(With inputs from agencies)

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