Recent weeks have seen a surge in military activity in the South China Sea, with the Philippines and the United States conducting joint exercises within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. The exercises, which included a carrier strike group from the US Indo-Pacific Command, are seen as a response to China's increasing assertiveness in the region.
INCREASED patrols and exercises have lately surged in the Palawan area, well within the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
The two militaries conducted a Communications Check Exercise, Division Tactics/Officer of the Watch maneuver, a Photo Exercise, and Dissimilar Aircraft Combat Training, according to a news release from the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Coincidentally, the first joint drills of 2025 took place only three days before Donald Trump, who has spoken little about the region as president-elect, returns to the White House which he occupied for four years from Jan. 2017.
SOUTH CHINA SEA MILITARY EXERCISES PHILIPPINE UNITED STATES CHINA
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