It’s official: There would be no military exercises between the Philippines and the US next month in time for the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This was confirmed by Department of National Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday, following the announcement of the US Embassy in Manila and the Palace itself that there would be no major US-Philippines joint exercise planned for November.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque earlier said that China expressed concern over a military exercise that the United States will be conducting the same time that the Chinese president will be in the country.
“Every time they [us] do that naman e, especially mag-port call dito ’yung papunta dun sa mga port natin… meron naman silang pasabi e, and we will ano, we will just tell them not to, ‘wag lang i-timing dun sa visit,” Lorenzana said.