By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
As war games go, it was a relatively small one – only about 1,500 US and Philippine troops conducting jungle warfare drills in triple-digit temperatures in the northern part of the island nation.
But the message it sent was a big one: the two countries are continuing to strengthen their alliance at a time when China poses a growing threat in the region and threats to the Philippines and Taiwan are increasing.
The ten-day exercise, which wrapped up Monday, was a test of how forces would function in a harsh jungle environment. Commanders had to determine how to transport enough food and ammunition through a challenging terrain. Pilots had to calculate what the scorching weather would mean for flying.
These drills have been held before, but this was the first time they were conducted in the Philippines. In the past, the setting was the US Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii.
And this exercise comes just weeks after two larger-scale drills with US and Philippine troops. Those involve 16,000 troops engaged in live-fire maneuvers in and along the South China Sea.Those involve 16,000 troops engaged in live-fire maneuvers in and along the South China Sea. It was an opportunity for the US to deploy medium-range missiles in the Philippines – the first time since the Cold War the US has placed such missiles in Asia.
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The Typhon launcher can fire the Tomahawk cruise missile and the SM-6 supersonic missile. Those two missiles could strike targets in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea – along with cities on China’s eastern coast.
That prompted Beijing to accuse the US of “strengthening forward deployment at China’s doorstep to seek unilateral military advantage.”
In the last few years, tensions have risen between the Philippines and China over maritime rights. It has to do with two shoals that lie with the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China has ignored that designation and claims 90 percent of the South China Sea as its own.
China’s coast guard has been using water cannon and collision and ramming tactics to harass Philippine and patrol ships. Last month, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. warned China not to cross what he called a “red line” – that is, if a Chinese water cannon killed a Filipino sailor on one of the ships.
The question is whether an incident like that would trigger the security treaty that requires the US to come to the Philippines’ aid in case of an attack.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III won’t say how the US would react to a Filipino death. But he has called the treaty between the two countries “ironclad”, and said China’s activities in the South China Sea a danger to Filipino sailors and a violation of international law.
Marcos has proven to be a stronger ally to the US than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who cozied up to Russia and China during his time in office. In February, Washington and Manila agreed to expand the American military presence in the Philippines.
That could mean more than added security for the Philippines. The southern part of the country is just 400 miles from Taiwan. So the US could build up an air and ground force that would be relatively nearby if China were to attack.
