Restless reading the radar screen

THE annual Balikatan exercises of the Philippines and the United States end today – officially on Friday — with both sides hopeful they have strengthened their bilateral interoperablity, trust and cooperation.

More than 16,000 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and US military trained together this year, with contingents from the Australian Defense Force and, for the first time in Balikatan history, the French Navy, as participants.

Several of the drills were set in islands and provinces facing Taiwan and the South China Sea, including Ilocos Norte up north, about 408 km from Taiwan’s southernmost point.

The exercises have irked China, which has warned of destabilization when countries outside the region “flex muscles and stoke confrontation” – a flawed logic, from where we are, since the rule of law does not stop when one uses might unnecessarily.

The exercises came at a time of escalating tension between China and the Philippines in the latter’s exclusive economic zone, reason China must have had its eyes glued on the radar screen for every blip during the 19-day combat drills.

Last week, Manila accused Beijing of using water cannons against Philippine vessels around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which damaged naval vessels and injured people onboard.

Earlier on, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Philippines would not retaliate in kind, saying he did not want to raise tensions.

But there is truth in what US Marines Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of joint task force Balikatan, told reporters the exercises were meant to improve how the forces operate alongside each other and were not directed against a specific adversary.

“We don’t do this for any third party. We don’t do this for messaging. We do this to create interoperability,” Cederholm said, without mentioning China.

In the most prominent annual military exercises between the Philippines and the United States, participants executed a complex missions across domains, including maritime security, sensing and targeting, air and missile defense, dynamic missile strikes, cyber defense, and information operations.

The Philippine Navy, US Navy, and the French Navy also conducted a Multilateral Maritime Exercise in the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The main exercises will culminate with a “maritime strike” today, in which the combined forces of the Philippines and the United States will sink a decommissioned Philippine navy ship.

Other exercises have included simulations of retaking occupied islands and a multilateral sail with France and Australia in the South China Sea, inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

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