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US and Philippine forces are to conduct their first “full battle test” for fighting together in flashpoints such as Taiwan or the South China Sea, in a reflection of Washington’s rapidly deepening military engagement with its oldest Asian ally.
This year’s Balikatan exercises, the two countries’ main bilateral annual drill starting on Monday, will combine elements practised over the past two years — such as targeting enemy ships with missiles from shore or protecting islands from attack — into a war scenario under realistic conditions.
“We will demonstrate not just our will to uphold our mutual defence treaty in existence since 1951 but our matchless capability to do so,” US exercise director Lieutenant General James Glynn said at the opening ceremony in Manila on Monday.
General Romeo Brawner, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said earlier this month the two forces were “now testing all of the plans, [ . . . ] all of the procedures that we have developed in the past years.”
Analysts said the drill suggested that the US military was sharpening its focus on the Indo-Pacific region as pledged, despite the doubts that President Donald Trump’s erratic foreign policy has raised among allies.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to the Philippines last month that Washington was determined to “re-establish deterrence, and come alongside our allies and partners first and foremost in this region”.
In a leaked strategy guidance document, Hegseth said the US would “assume risk” in other regions to focus on China as its “sole pacing threat”.
“I don’t see a lot of difference in terms of US posture from Trump I to Biden all the way to Trump II in terms of US strategy in the Indo-Pacific, which is to preserve peace and stability here,” said Vincent Chao, a Taiwanese politician who previously served at Taiwan’s quasi-embassy in Washington.
The increased complexity of Balikatan, which means “shoulder to shoulder” in the Philippine language Tagalog, illustrates how the two countries have reinvigorated defence ties since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022 and reversed his predecessor’s policy of courting China.
Manila has given US forces access to four more Philippine military bases, in addition to five previously agreed, while Balikatan has nearly doubled in size to almost 18,000 troops in 2023.
That year, Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost territory bordering Taiwan, was included in the drills for the first time as US and Philippine marines practised retaking a strategically located island seized by an enemy.
Now, that component of the exercises will be extended to 10 days involving three islands bordering Taiwan, and the US Marine Corps will deploy anti-ship missiles in the Luzon Strait for the first time.
The two militaries will also expand these so-called Maritime Key Terrain Security Operations (MKTSO) to the edge of the disputed South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety.
A five-day MKTSO is planned on Balabac, an islet home to one of the bases open to US forces. It is just south of Palawan, the large island closest to disputed reefs and banks such as Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal where the Philippines and China have repeatedly clashed.
Palawan will also host a live-fire drill designed to prevent enemy forces from landing on a beach — a component previously held in less sensitive locations.
Japanese forces will participate rather than just observe Balikatan for the first time this year. They join Australia, another key US ally in the region, which has been sending small contingents since 2014.
