More than 3,000 US and Philippine soldiers conduct live-fire drills

US and Philippine forces at the opening ceremony of the Salaknib exercise on March 13 in the Philippines (Photo: Reuters).

More than 3,000 Philippine and US soldiers will participate in the three-week annual exercise called Salaknib.

Salaknib includes small-caliber live-fire exercises, live-fire exercises with artillery and mortars, and construction of defensive structures.

"The exercise scenarios will involve defending the Philippines from potential foreign adversaries. Since this is an exercise between two armies, we will focus on air and coastal defense operations," said General Romeo Brawner, commander of the Philippine Army.

The exercise took place in the context of the warming of US-Philippines alliance relations.

The US and the Philippines announced a new military agreement in January. Under the agreement, the US will have access to four more Philippine bases, bringing the total number of bases Washington is allowed to use in its Asian ally to nine.

The exact locations of the bases have not been disclosed, but according to informed sources, three of them are on the main island of Luzon, the Philippine strip of land closest to Taiwan. The remaining base is on Palawan Island, opposite Vietnam’s Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

China has criticised a new US-Philippines military agreement that could escalate tensions in the region, urging the Philippines to exercise caution to "avoid getting dragged into trouble".

The US and the Philippines also recently agreed to resume joint patrols in the South China Sea after a hiatus of several years. The US said it stood by its ally the Philippines in the case of the Chinese coast guard allegedly using lasers on the crew of a Philippine coast guard vessel on February 6 in the South China Sea.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/hon-3000-linh-my-philippines-tap-tran-ban-dan-that-20230314063846136.htm