Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner (L) shakes hands with Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of Japan's Self Defense Force prior to a 2+2 meeting at a hotel in Manila on July 8, 2024. (AFP)The Philippines and Japan held their first joint military exercises in the South China Sea on Friday, the Philippine armed forces said, in the latest collaboration between countries that have pushed back against China's regional assertiveness. The drills, which took place within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, followed similar exercises between Manila and Washington on Wednesday. The Philippines and Japan, both U.S. allies, last month signed a landmark military pact allowing deployment of forces on each other's soil. But it has a separate maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea, where the neighbors have repeatedly faced off.
