Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (centre), US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim (second left), Philippine Armed Forces Chief Lt Gen Carlito Galvez (second right), Lt Gen Lawrence Nicholson, right, commander of the 3rd US Marine Expeditionary Forces, and Northern Luzon commander Lt Gen Emmanuel Salamat stand at attention during the opening ceremony of the Joint US-Philippines military exercise dubbed "Balikatan 34-2018" on Monday at Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. (AP photo)MANILA, Philippines: US and Philippine forces have begun their largest annual military exercises under President Rodrigo Duterte, who had wanted to scale down America's military presence and involvement in combat drills as he sought closer ties with China and Russia. The Balikatan exercises opened Monday and were to involve combat drills in mock urban settings to train special forces in battling terrorists in cities following the Islamic State group-linked siege on southern Marawi city last year. After rising to power in 2016, Duterte vowed to scale back the presence of US troops involved in counterterrorism training in the country's south and once threatened to end the annual drills with American forces. These will be the largest joint drills since Duterte took office, though Filipino officials stress they're not aimed at China.

Source: Bangkok Post May 07, 2018 07:52 UTC