The United States and the Philippines on the 21st to start the annual“Side by side” joint military exercises. Experts interviewed by the global times said that the US-PHILIPPINES“Shoulder-to-shoulder” joint exercise has an obvious strategic intention towards China, but there is no doubt that such an attempt can not succeed.
AFP reported on the 21st that, “We will demonstrate not only the will to uphold the mutual defence treaties that have existed since 1951, but also our unparalleled capabilities,” United States Marine Corps Lt Gen Guerin said at the opening of the joint exercise in Manila
According to Reuters, Guerin called this year’s exercise a“Full combat test,” testing the capabilities of troops on both sides in a variety of scenarios. The exercise will run until May 9. This year’s exercises include defending against missile threats, preventing maritime incursions and sinking a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in a sea strike test. According to summaries of the exercises obtained by foreign media, the Philippines will conduct live-fire exercises with its US counterpart and test its indigenously developed modern missiles.
“Philippine Daily Enquirer” on the 21st quoted a Armed Forces of the Philippines statement as saying that 6,000 Philippine military personnel and 12,000 US personnel will participate in the exercise, some countries, such as Australia and Japan, have contributed smaller contingents and others have participated as observers.
In response to the us-philippines joint military exercise, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on the 21st that the international community is currently faced with the impact of unilateralism, protectionism and hegemony, countries in the region are eager to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, jointly safeguard regional stability and jointly tackle challenges. Against this backdrop, the Philippines, together with countries outside the region, has conducted massive military exercises, introduced and deployed strategic and tactical weapons, undermined regional strategic stability and economic growth prospects, and openly stood in opposition to countries in the region, has been strongly opposed and opposed by countries in the region.
Zhang William Tyndale, director of the Institute of Regional and National Studies at the China South China Sea Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday that the joint us-philippines“Shoulder-to-shoulder” exercise, is between the United States and the Philippines many joint exercises in the“Important”, in recent years, showing a trend of annual expansion of the scale.
William Tyndale further analyzed that this year’s joint us-philippines“Shoulder-to-shoulder” exercise has four characteristics: first, the scale of the exercise and the number of participating countries have reached a new high; second, the exercise is a joint exercise of a global nature, the linkage of sea, air and land, and the characteristics of multi-service integrated combat exercises are prominent. Third, the United States has used the opportunity of military exercises to ship new offensive weapons and equipment to the Philippines, it is highly likely that the marine expeditionary ship interception system will not be withdrawn from the Philippines after the exercise, and will most likely continue to be deployed as a deterrent; fourth, given the area and subject of the exercise, china’s strategic intentions are also more obvious. “The exercise area involves the north and west of the Philippines. The exercises include situational awareness, intelligence sharing, patrol and blockade, air and sea operations, island operations and so on. Its intention to stir up the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea is very clear.”