Some 3,000 Filipino and American soldiers are participating in the three-week long Army-to-Army annual Salaknib Exercise that opened yesterday.
Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said whereas previous Salaknib exercises focused on internal threats such as communist guerillas, this year’s joint exercises are geared toward external challenges.
“We are seeing the near of the end of [communist groups] in the country. We are shifting towards territorial defense. In our scenarios in Salaknib together with the US forces, we will be training on scenarios that will allow us to work and operate together to face adversaries from out of the country,” Brawner said.
The exercises will be held in two phases: the first from March 13 to April 4, and the second during the second semester of the year.
“In addition to the normal exercises and trainings we have, we will infuse more programs and training exercises that involve tactics we are learning from the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he added.
As this developed, Senator JV Ejercito on Monday cautioned against taking China’s statements at face value where the West Philippine Sea is concerned.
“I don’t trust China anymore… I just don’t trust what their government is saying,” Ejercito said.
“They have been very aggressive and hostile. We have to have freedom of navigation in those seas, in the West Philippine Sea,” he added.
For his part, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, chairperson of the Senate committee on national defense, said China’s misgivings over the designation of four new sites under the PH-US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement are inevitable given the rising tension between Beijing and Washington.
“In agreeing to expand the EDCA locations, President Marcos said that he does not want this issue to cause tension in the South China Sea or consider this move by our government as an act of aggression or anything that will be seen as provocative to anyone,” Estrada said.
“Our Balikatan exercises are only exercises for the defense of the country and not for the invasion of China. We are not waging a war against China,” he added.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila on Sunday said the United States was dragging the Philippines into its issues with China by establishing additional military bases in the country and warned that this may “seriously harm” Manila’s national interests and regional peace and stability.
The Chinese Embassy issued the statement after US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said, in an interview, that she did not believe that EDCA sites would serve as a “magnet” for Chinese “aggressive behavior.”
On the contrary, she said, these sites would help keep people safe. But the Chinese Embassy countered that Washington was only using the EDCA with Manila for its geopolitical interests and to contain China.