This year’s Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises between the Philippines and the United States are “not directed towards any specific nation.”

This was reiterated by AFP spokesperson, Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, who told reporters on Thursday, “This longstanding initiative, spanning several years, is aimed at enhancing cooperation, fostering training opportunities, and strengthening regional stability.”

Padilla made the statement after China warned the Philippines to be “sober enough to realize” that conducting military drills with “external countries to show off force in the South China Sea” would provoke tensions in the area.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, cautioned the Philippines that such combat drills would “only aggravate tensions and undermine regional stability.”

“Attempts to bring in external forces to safeguard its so-called security will only lead to greater insecurity for itself,” Lin added.

China’s warning came after the Philippine Coast Guard confirmed that six of its civilian vessels will participate in a group sail in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as part of exercises in the Philippines-US annual war games.

PCG’s first Balikatan

Balikatan executive agent, Col. Michael Logico, earlier said the Philippines will hold a multilateral maritime exercise with the US and France within the country’s 12-nautical mile exclusive economic zone off western Palawan province facing the South China Sea.

“This is the first time the PCG will join the Balikatan exercises,” PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said.

The PCG will deploy four of its 44-meter multi-role response vessels and two larger patrol vessels for the Multilateral Maritime Exercise, which will be joined by vessels from the Philippine Navy, US Navy, US Coast Guard and French Navy.

Balilo said the Coast Guard Special Operations Force will participate in the joint maritime interoperability exercises during the group sail.

New concept

Meanwhile, Logico said the Philippines initiated the group sail in accordance with the country’s newly introduced Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which focuses on defending its sea lanes of communication and all of its maritime territories.

The group sail will include drills on division tactics, gunnery exercises, search and rescue and sea exercises.

Like last year’s Balikatan, the participants will attempt to sink a mock enemy warship off the coast of Laoag City in Ilocos Norte province.

The maritime strike will be the main event of the war games. It will integrate joint and combined fire, joint dynamic targeting, and multi-domain effects with the sinking of an adversary’s vessel.