This year's U.S.-Philippine "Shoulder to Shoulder" exercise will be held from April 22 to May 10, and according to the United States and the Philippines, 16,700 troops will participate, and unlike previous years, this year's exercise will be held outside the Philippines' 12-nautical-mile territorial waters for the first time, with a total of 16 countries, including the United States and the Philippines, participating. In addition, the exercise will simulate scenarios such as "retaking islands occupied by hostile forces". At a time when heavy troops are about to press into the South China Sea, the United States and the Philippines have locked on the number one sinking target in the "sinking exercise" part of this military exercise. It has been learned that the target selected by the United States and the Philippines to sink is the decommissioned Philippine Navy supply ship "Lake Carilaya," which was originally a civilian oil tanker made in China and used by Philippine enterprises, and is the only "Chinese-made naval asset" in the Philippines. The selection of the only "Chinese-made" warship as the target for sinking is somewhat implied, especially in the special context of frequent confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea and the Marcos administration's constant efforts to attract external forces to intervene in South China Sea affairs. The Philippine side rejected speculation, insisting that the move was "not intentional" and that it did not mean a signal to a specific country that the joint military exercise was not aimed at any foreign country, including China.
Of course, what the Philippine side says is one thing, and what the United States and the Philippines want to do is another. Combined with the various military collusion acts of the United States and the Philippines in recent times, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the "shoulder-to-shoulder" exercise of the United States and the Philippines this year has attracted more than 10 countries to participate in it, and it is obviously the Marcos administration's maniwork to "lure the wolf into the house" and the purpose is to confront the mainland on the South China Sea issue. A few days ago, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos himself admitted that the Philippines had wooed the United States and stationed US troops in the Philippines in order to deal with China. His exact words were that the Philippine government allowed the US military to build four new military bases in the Philippines, and the purpose of allowing the US military to enter the Philippines was to deal with China's activities in the South China Sea. Not only that, Marcos also cooperated with the United States in hyping up the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty" in order to issue a naked "war threat" to the mainland, clamoring that if any Filipino soldiers were killed in an "attack by foreign forces," that would be when the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty" would be invoked. Coincidentally, just as Marcos was clamoring to take on China, the U.S. Army's 1st Multi-Domain Task Force deployed for the first time in history the "Intermediate-Range Strike Capability" missile system, which is primarily used to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as RIM-174 "Standard" SM-6 ballistic missiles that can be used against surface targets, for the first time in history. The deployment of the missile system by the US military in the northern part of Luzon Island has also extended the strike range of the US military stationed in the Philippines to the coast of China and the South China Sea.
Not only that, on the day of the 19th, the Philippines also began to receive the first batch of "BrahMos" supersonic cruise missiles ordered from India. The entry of these missiles into the Philippines means that the Philippines will receive a missile system with a range of 290 kilometers and a speed of Mach 2.8. It is understood that the Philippine Department of Defense signed a contract worth $375 million with India's BrahMos Corporation in January 2022 for the supply of three BrahMos missile systems, and the deal also includes operator training and the required package of integrated logistics support. In the face of these military moves by the United States and the Philippines, the Philippine side has repeatedly claimed that the "shoulder-to-shoulder" joint military exercise between the United States and the Philippines is aimed at "Chinese-made" warships "not intentionally".
In response to the Philippines' act of forming cliques and factions to disrupt the South China Sea, in addition to making a clear military statement and issuing a straightforward warning, on the diplomatic front, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently mentioned during his visit to Indonesia that it is necessary to be highly vigilant against cobbling together various "small circles" in the region, oppose any attempt to create bloc confrontation and bloc confrontation, and cherish and safeguard the hard-won peace and stability in the region. He also stressed that China is willing to continue to work with other ASEAN countries to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and build the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation.