Philippines, US to resume joint drills as tensions grow in S. China Sea

MANILA • The Philippine armed forces will hold joint exercises with hundreds of US troops over the next two weeks, its military chief said on Sunday, amid growing tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

The annual war games between the military allies were cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

This year's event will be on a smaller scale than in previous years due to the health crisis, Philippines' military chief, Lieutenant-General Cirilito Sobejana, told Agence France-Presse.

About 700 US soldiers and up to 1,300 members of the Philippine military will take part - about a quarter of the usual attendance, Lt-Gen Sobejana said.

"The exercise this year is a hybrid of virtual and physical activities," he said. "It's a low-key exercise, just to keep the alliance - the contact - between the two armed forces." The US embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement came hours after a phone call between US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippine counterpart Delfin Lorenzana, who last week tested positive for the coronavirus.

They "discussed the situation in the South China Sea, and the recent massing of People's Republic of China maritime militia vessels at Whitsun Reef", according to a readout provided by the Pentagon.

To deepen their defence cooperation, Mr Austin proposed "enhancing situational awareness of threats in the South China Sea". The readout did not elaborate on that.

Tensions over the resource-rich sea have intensified since hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected last month at Whitsun Reef, which is in the Spratly Islands where several countries, including China and the Philippines, have rival claims.

Beijing, which claims almost the entirety of the sea, has refused repeated appeals by Manila to withdraw the vessels, which the Philippines says unlawfully entered its exclusive economic zone.

China previously said they were fishing vessels sheltering from bad weather.

The resumption of joint military drills comes more than a year after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte - who has pivoted towards China since taking power in 2016 - gave notice that he planned to axe the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The plan to break the deal - central to hundreds of joint military exercises with the United States every year and a major component of their nearly 70-year-old alliance - has been suspended. But it has underscored the complicated relations between the Philippines and its former colonial master.

Mr Duterte's stance also raised concern that the regional balance of power could tilt in Beijing's favour.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE