World(REUTERS) Philippine and U.S. military officials will meet late next month and decide the fate of decades-old joint exercises, defense sources said on Wednesday, amid doubts over the future of the security alliance and a stream of mixed messages from Manila. "As of now, we really don't know what military exercises will be stopped, because the president has not made any specific instruction." "But, if there is no change, I am afraid the Philippines will distance further from the United States." The defense department says the two sides now hold 28 exercises each year, three of them large-scale and the rest minor activities. Washington has been Manila's closest security partner since the end of Second World War, when the Philippines won independence from the United States.

Source: Sunday Times October 26, 2016 10:07 UTC