Overview
- The 19-day Balikatan exercise, which began Monday, brings together more than 17,000 personnel from seven countries, including about 10,000 U.S. troops.
- Japan joins in an active combat role for the first time with roughly 1,400 troops and plans to fire rockets at a decommissioned ship during a simulated maritime attack.
- Training spans northern Luzon in the Philippines near Taiwan and contested areas of the South China Sea with live-fire shooting and coordinated air maneuvers on the schedule.
- China condemned the drills as a "game with fire" and warned the United States, Japan, and the Philippines against what it called a blind alliance.
- U.S. commanders billed this as the largest Balikatan to boost joint readiness, with events running through May 8.