SUCCESSFUL ‘BALIKATAN’ GIVES PAUSE TO ENEMIES USING FORCE — US GENERAL

MANILA, Philippines — A United States Marine task force commander expressed confidence that the intensified “Balikatan” this year will deter enemies from using force against “sovereign nations” after the war games officially ended on Friday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commanding general of the 1 Marine Expeditionary Force, said this during the closing ceremony of the Exercise Balikatan here in Camp Aguinaldo.

“Balikatan ’24 has been a huge success,” Cederholm said in his speech. “[It] has directly built war fighting readiness for us; it has enhanced tactics, techniques, and procedures across a wide range of military operations.”

Cederholm continued, “It (Balikatan) should also give pause to any adversary who does not believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific, who does not believe in transparency, who does not seek peaceful resolution but will seek to use force to impose their will on other sovereign nations.”

Manila, Washington now ‘more lethal’

The Balikatan this year saw the emergence of drills that sought simulation of an enemy invasion in the northern province of the country near Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing deems a renegade province subject to reunification.

READ: ‘Made in China’ target ship now a fish shelter after ‘Balikatan’ simulation

Both nations’ forces simulated on Monday their foiling of an invasion attempt by a foreign country in the shores of Laoag — one of the country’s northernmost areas near Taiwan which also faces the West Philippine Sea — through the use of howitzers in their live fire drills.

On Wednesday, the former BRP Lake Caliraya, a discarded “made in China” oil tanker that represented a ship of an invading country, was also submerged during the sinking drills held in the same coastal city.

“We collectively are better, more capable, and more lethal as a result of this exercise,” Cederholm also said.

2024-05-10T07:56:41Z dg43tfdfdgfd