Over 12,000 US Soldiers To Participate In Biggest Joint Military Exercise With PH Troops

Over 12,000 American soldiers will join this year's Balikatan or joint military exercise with their Philippine counterparts beginning next week.

This year counts the biggest number of U.S. troops participating in the event set to commence on April 11 to 28.

"Balikatan 2023" will include the new 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, a stand-in force created to counter adversaries in a shore fight against the Chinese military, the Navy Times reported.

The U.S. Navy will participate in the joint military drills with its transport dock ships John P. Murtha and Anchorage carrying the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. On the part of the Army, an infantry brigade will take part in the Balikatan as well as the combat aviation and the air defense artillery brigades, the Navy Times added.

The U.S. Air Force is sending its 13th Air Expeditionary Group including its fighter, attack, airlift, air control and engineering squadrons.

The joint military exercises will tackle maritime security missions – counterterrorism, cyber defense, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance missions and amphibious operations, live-fire training and airborne operations.

Also joining the military drills are 111 members of the Australian Defense Force, Col. Michael Logico, "Balikatan 2023" spokesperson and also the director of the Joint and Combined Training Center of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Education, Training and Doctrine Command, said in March.

He said the Australian soldiers will join in events like "special operations and smaller land-based exercises."

The 2023 joint military exercises follow Malacañang's announcement on Monday regarding the four new sites of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The new EDCA sites would allow U.S. troops to access Philippine military bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment, the building of runways, military housing and fuel storage.

Following the unveiling of the new EDCA sites, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh pointed out that the U.S. is "not seeking a permanent basing" in the Philippines.

The joint military drills between the U.S. and Filipino troops come amid China's continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned that the increased deployment of American troops in the country "would only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region".

"Regional countries need to think about what is right for the region and mutually beneficial so as to make a choice that serves regional peace and stability as well as their own interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted at a conference in Beijing.

On a similar note, North Korea vowed to respond with "offensive action" after the U.S. and South Korea held their biggest military exercises in March.

North Korea's state news agency, KCNA quoted a commentary by international security analyst Choe Ju Hyun criticizing the military drills saying that "the reckless military confrontational hysteria of the U.S. and its followers against the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to an irreversible catastrophe ... to the brink of a nuclear war."