On May 8, U.S. and Philippine forces unleashed a barrage of high-precision rockets, artillery fire, and airstrikes. They sank a mock enemy ship. The action was part of large-scale war drills in and near the disputed South China Sea. The show of power angers neighbor China.
More than 16,000 military personnel from the United States and the Philippines and a few hundred Australian troops partook in annual combat-readiness drills called Balikatan. The word is Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder.” Military observers from 14 countries also attended.
Balikatan started April 22 and ends Friday. The drills include enacting a foreign invasion of the Philippine islands.
For the first time in years, the U.S.-Philippine combat exercises happened in and near the fiercely contested Spratly Islands. After being hit by missile and artillery fire and bombs dropped by U.S. and Philippine warplanes, the mock enemy ship sank.
The target ship was made in China. The Philippine navy decommissioned it in 2020 due to mechanical and electrical issues.
Philippine officials say the drills are not directed at any country. China opposes drills involving U.S. forces as well as U.S. deployments in the region. It says such actions escalate tensions and endanger the area.
On Monday, U.S. and Filipino marines practiced securing an airfield on the islands near southern Taiwan.
The forces are working closer to the boundaries of the Philippines “to practice in ways that they might have to work for real,” says British diplomat Bea Walcot, who watched the ship-sinking drill.
China angers the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy and coast guard ships. The Chinese military has performed multiple dangerous maneuvers in the South China Sea. The actions led to minor collisions. The crashes injured several Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats.
China’s actions in the South China Sea are a top concern for Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. The drills are the latest sign of how the United States and the Philippines have bolstered their alliance.
Marcos’ concern dovetails with the efforts of U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration. They want to reinforce alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China.
“We don’t have the wherewithal to be able to fight all of this bullying coming from China, so where else will we go?” Philippine Ambassador to Washington, Jose Romualdez, says. “We went to the right party, which is the United States and those that believe in what the U.S. is doing.”
Meanwhile, China accuses the Philippines of setting off conflict by encroaching on what it says are China’s offshore territories. It says the Chinese coast guard and navy were forced to take action to expel vessels from those areas.
The Philippines points to a 2016 international ruling that rejects China’s claim over nearly the entire South China Sea.
Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s growing actions to defend its territory claims in the South China Sea—and Beijing’s stated goal of annexing Taiwan by force if necessary.
In February last year, Marcos approved a wider U.S. military presence in the Philippines.
Romualdez says, “An alliance is very important to show China that ‘you may have all the ships that you have, but we have a lot of firepower to sink all of them.’”
One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. — Proverbs 12:26
