Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos recently publicly stated that he is willing to engage in dialogue with China on the South China Sea issue, but the Philippines has made a big bet that China will tolerate it, because just after Marcos sought dialogue, the United States and the Philippines held joint military exercises again. According to an announcement issued by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Army and the Philippine Army have held a joint military exercise codenamed "Shield 2024" on Luzon. Judging from the information released by the US military, the United States and the Philippines jointly dispatched nearly 4,000 troops to launch a large-scale operation in the Philippines. In fact, at the same time as the US-Philippine "Shield 2024" joint military exercise, the US Air Force and the Philippine Air Force are also conducting the "Thunder Confrontation 2024" joint military exercise.
Judging from the military exercises between the United States and the Philippines, there has been a trend of continuous rotation, because after the "Shield 2024" joint military exercise, it is the opening of the largest military exercise of the year between the United States and the Philippines. Judging from the successive military exercises between the United States and the Philippines, the deployment of the US military in the Philippines has been normalized, because from the perspective of the transportation of heavy equipment, it is necessary to coordinate at multiple levels, this time the US Army for the first time sent the so-called medium-range missile strike advance team to the Asia-Pacific region, so it seems that the commander of the US Pacific Army announced that the deployment of medium-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region is not groundless, and the US generals announced that they plan to deploy medium-range missiles in 2024, and it is in the western Pacific region.
At present, the US Pacific Army's medium-range missile strike advance team is equipped with M142 Seahorse high-mobility rocket launchers, Tomahawk cruise missiles and standard 6 multi-purpose missiles, and the original US Army is only equipped with the M142 Seahorse high-mobility rocket artillery system, but now it is a "shotgun for artillery" and already has Tomahawk cruise missiles with long-range strike capabilities. Like the M142 Seahorse High Mobility Rocket Artillator, the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Standard 6 storage and launch system are designed to be lightweight, allowing them to be deployed with C-17A and C-130J transport aircraft. At present, the US military has nine military bases in the Philippines, so it is able to deploy medium-range missiles in multiple areas.
In fact, the U.S. Army Intermediate-Range Missile Strike Advance Team was only established in 2024, and now it is approaching China's doorstep, highlighting the purpose of the U.S. Army's new unit to come to China. Judging from the information released by the Pentagon, the medium-range missile strike advance team will be stationed in Guam or the first island chain, because the US military in Guam or Japan and the Ryukyus has well-established facilities, and it can also be seen from the combat range of Tomahawk cruise missiles and Standard 6 missiles that if deployed in the first island chain, there will be more deterrent capabilities.
Since possessing land-based medium-range missiles, the US military has been eager to approach China, highlighting the hostile stance of the United States toward China. At a time when the United States is actively encircling China, the United States is no longer pretending. When the United States and the Philippines conducted successive military exercises, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos sought dialogue with China, but in fact, he was confident that he had the support of the United States. In fact, after the trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines, Marcos also publicly declared that the cooperation between the United States, Japan and the Philippines will not affect Chinese investment in the Philippines. Judging from Marcos's statement, Marcos has strong confidence in the Philippine strategy.