US and Philippine troops conducted live-fire exercises in the northern Philippines on Thursday during annual military drills between the two treaty allies.
The annual "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises involved 8,900 troops this year and included live-fire exercises and training with amphibious assault vehicles.
“This is one way of ensuring that we can operate jointly with our allies” said Philippine Armed Forces Chief of staff General Andres Centino, during a press briefing after the military exercises.
In the past, President Rodrigo Duterte had scaled back some earlier war games with the United States to pursue warmer ties with China. But last year he withdrew a threat to scrap a two-decade-old pact governing the presence of U.S. troops in the Southeast Asian country.
Live fire exercises returned in 2018 and 2019 after a pause in 2017. But the scale of the drills remained smaller and in 2020 they were cancelled due to the pandemic, while only 640 troops took part last year.
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