U.S.-Philippines drills with Japan, China warn against 'playing with fire'

The annual "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises kicked off in the Philippines on Monday, with a huge participation of more than 17,000 troops from the United States and the Philippines, and with the historic joining of a Japanese military force for the first time.

This edition is strategically important, not only because of the scale of the international engagement that included Australia, New Zealand, France and Canada, but also because of its sensitive location in the northern Philippines, which borders the Taiwan Strait and the disputed South China Sea.

Messages of Fire. Sinking of ships and cruise missiles

The 19-day drills include live maneuvers with completed ammunition, with the Japanese military set to use Type 88 cruise missiles to sink a target ship off the northern coast of Bauwai.

U.S. forces spokesman Col. Robert Ban said the deployment was among the "largest" in recent years, stressing that the U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific remains a top priority that will not be affected by ongoing wars in other regions.

On the brink of the Middle East

These military moves come at a very dangerous global time, as the start of the exercises coincides with the imminent expiration of the ceasefire agreement between the United States, Iran and Israel.

This geopolitical linkage, according to political analysts, is  casting a shadow over Manila, which has suffered a severe energy crisis due to the war in the Middle East and now finds itself forced to strengthen its defense alliances to deter any global repercussions that may be reflected on its national security in the South China Sea.

Chinese Response: "Playing with Fire" and Combat Patrols

On the other hand, Beijing was not late in reacting, with China's Foreign Ministry describing these alliances as "playing with fire" and the infiltration of outside forces aimed at creating division and confrontation.

On the ground, the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) announced the implementation of combat air and naval patrols around the reefs of "Scarborough" and "Thomas II", in conjunction with the dispatch of a group of warships to the western Pacific, in a move aimed at monitoring and intercepting the trajectories of ships participating in the exercises.

New Alliance Map

Manila sees the 1951 mutual defense agreement with Washington and a series of recent agreements with Japan and France as a bulwark against Chinese ambitions.

But Beijing accuses Washington of using Manila as a "pawn" in its containment strategy. Between Beijing's light bombs and Manila's cruise missiles, the world is waiting for the Middle East truce to end, which could make the Pacific the next arena of confrontation.

     The involvement of Japan and the expansion of operations to the Taiwan Strait puts the region in front of a new security reality, as energy crises in the Middle East are intertwined with sovereignty struggles in Southeast Asia, making any miscalculation the start of a broad regional conflagration.