Balikatan and Taiwan Drills
- The US and the Philippines launched their largest-ever Balikatan drills, joined by a substantial Japanese contingent. (zerohedge.com) - The exercises involve more than 17,000 troops, including roughly 1,400 Japanese personnel, with live-fire drills near Taiwan and Palawan. (zerohedge.com) - Taiwan also ran a rare coast-guard drill on Itu Aba, while Beijing responded with carrier activity and threatened to withhold emergency energy aid. ( )
The United States and the Philippines have opened their biggest Balikatan war games yet, with live-fire drills stretching from Palawan to islands near Taiwan. (imef.marines.mil) The 41st Balikatan runs from April 20 to May 8 across the Philippine archipelago and involves more than 17,000 personnel from the Philippines, the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada, France, and New Zealand. Seventeen other countries joined as observers. (pacom.mil) Japanese participation is the biggest new piece. Japan sent about 1,400 personnel as an active participant, not just an observer, in the first Balikatan held after Manila and Tokyo’s reciprocal access agreement took effect. (nippon.com; philstar.com) Military planners put some of the most sensitive events at the northern and western edges of the Philippines. Reuters reported maritime strike drills on a remote island near Taiwan, while Philippine officials said live-fire events were scheduled for Aporawan in Palawan on April 27 and Burgos, Ilocos Norte, on May 3. (usnews.com; gmanetwork.com) The drills come as Manila has moved from internal-security missions toward coastal defense and alliance planning. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Philippines. (imef.marines.mil) Taiwan added its own signal this week. Reuters reported that Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling visited Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba in the Spratly Islands for coast-guard exercises that included boarding a suspicious ship, a rare ministerial trip to the island. (usnews.com) Beijing answered with military and diplomatic pressure. Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese carrier Liaoning sailed through the Taiwan Strait on April 20, and Chinese officials warned Manila and its partners against “playing with fire” as the exercises opened. (usnews.com; msn.com) China also hinted at economic leverage as the military drills unfolded. Bloomberg, cited by Yahoo, reported that Beijing suggested emergency energy help for the Philippines could depend on Manila’s conduct, days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had been operating under a state of national energy emergency declared in late March. (yahoo.com; pco.gov.ph) Balikatan started as a bilateral U.S.-Philippine exercise in the 1990s. In 2026, it opened with seven participating countries, a larger Japanese role, and drills placed close enough to Taiwan and the South China Sea that every move is being read well beyond the training range. (pna.gov.ph; thediplomat.com)
