US and ally to use ‘live fire’ in South China Sea war game drill

Today, the first day of many weeks of this war game rehearsal, is set to last until April 28, 2023 and reportedly will involve over 12,000 American soldiers and more than 5,000 Philippine army personnel.

A 1951 defense agreement between both nations has seen the two countries hold annual military drills known as the Balikatan every year since 1991.

This year’s exercise, however, has taken on greater significance amid heighten tensions in the region as the US and its allies try to contain China whose economic growth and military expansion is seen as an existential threat to the West’s global hegemony.

Just last week, in fact 48 hours before the Balikatan simulation began; China concluded a three-day military war game recreation around Taiwan in response to President Tsai Ing-wen visit to the United States.

China regards the self-ruled island of Taiwan as its territory, a position many Taiwanese have been opposing since it break away from the mainland in the 1940s.

China has been locked in a territorial dispute with several countries in the South China Sea including the Philippines.

And in an effort to maintain control over a group of small islands in the region the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has grant the US permission to station troops at four more bases around the country though he claimed that these military sites will not be used for “offensive actions”.

The Chinese Government has repeatedly voice its objection to any cooperation between the US and the Philippines that could harm the interest of Beijing.