SUMMARY

MANILA, Philippines – The navies of the Philippines, United States, and France will sail together in the West Philippine Sea by end-April, as part of the 2024 Exercise Balikatan.

It’s just one of many firsts for what US Exercise Director Lieutenant General William Jurney described on Monday, April 22, as the “most effective, most ambitious, and most complicated” version of the yearly war games. The 39th iteration of the annual drills is taking place for three weeks from April 22 to May 10 in four Luzon provinces.

The joint exercises will be hosted in four Luzon provinces that are critical to regional security in the Indo-Pacific and South China Sea.

There’s Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost province that’s close to the Taiwan Strait.

The two other staging areas – Pala…

Source:https://www.rappler.com/philippines/view-from-manila-balikatan-war-games-west-sea/