About 9,000 troops, including 5,100 US soldiers, are taking part in the largest joint military exercise with the United States in the Philippines, the Philippine TV channel News5 reported on Monday.
According to it, Australia, Japan and Great Britain sent observers to the maneuvers.
The TV channel cites the words of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, General Andres Sentino, that the current exercises, code-named “Balikatan-2022”, are timely “in the light of the domestic and international situation” against the background of the events in Ukraine.
A two-week exercise and maneuvers started at a military base in Manila to practice land, sea and air combat operations. Further, they will be held in the north of Luzon, not far from the Taiwan Strait, where the activity of ships and aircraft of China is noted.
According to News5, American F-16 fighters will drop bombs and fire during air support training operations over the Crow Valley training ground near the city of Tarlac. At the same time, on the ground, the artillery will conduct firing operations in the jungle in the province of Nueva Ecija.
The name of the exercises “Balikatan” means “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog. As previously reported by the US Embassy in Manila, they will include command and staff exercises using computer simulation to test the ability of the troops of the two countries to plan operations, command them and maintain communication between the troops of the two countries with each other.
As the American army newspaper Stars and Stripes reported, in 2020 such exercises were canceled, and in 2021 they are limited to the participation of 225 and 736 military, respectively, of the United States and the Philippines.
The US Navy’s Ashland landing dock and the Miguel Keith Expeditionary Naval Base will be involved in the exercises, in particular, on landing ashore, writes Stars and Stripes.
As the Philippine newspaper Inquirer previously reported, F-16 fighter jets from the Misawa airbase in Japan also arrived at the exercises.
The US-Philippines are conducting exercises under the pretext of a threat from China. The US military says China could occupy Taiwan within the next six years. The United States hopes to use military bases in the Philippines to prevent this. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said earlier that China is firmly committed to peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but will never tolerate its “independence.” He stressed that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an integral part of it, and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a common destiny and are “blood brothers.”
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