What are the balikatan exercises?
The Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder,” Exercises is an annual military event between the United States and the Philippines meant to reinforce the Philippines’ role as a U.S. military collaborator by increasing training, intelligence, and capacity to respond to external threats to U.S. interests in the Asia Pacific. In essence, the exercises are a theater for warfare and US military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The 1st Balikatan Exercises were held in 2001, following a series of unequal military agreements, starting with the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that requires both nations to support each other in case of attack. The exercises were further enhanced by the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the US War on Terror, the exercises were geared towards counter-terrorism efforts. In 2023, the exercises are shifting towards responding to Chinese military expansion in the Indo-Pacific Region.
This year marks the 38th Balikatan Exercises, the largest to date, with 17,600 American, Filipino and Australian sailors, Marines, soldiers and airmen participating, 12,000 of whom are American.
Over the past week, the war games have been used to show military might through live-fire tests, firing off Howitzers and Javelin Anti-Tank missles. Long range and short range arms have also been on display. The soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat training. The newly acquired Philippine Air Force combat utility helicopters, Black Hawk, made their debut through air assault exercises.
The final show will be a simulated island defense on Batanes, just 80 nautical miles south of Taiwan. In this simulated defense, a 200ft (61-meter) target vessel will be sunk as part of a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment. Marcos Jr. is rumored to attend the ship sinking.
The start of the exercises were met with protests at the US Embassy in Manila, where 2 students were arrested, and across the United States in San Francisco and New York.
Why should you be concerned?
The Balikatan Military exercises, under the guise of cooperation between the US and Philippines, should be seen as provocation and escalation toward war between US and China. The war games are being used as a show of force in the region against China, and ultimately to provoke and prepare for battle in the Asia Pacific.
Some of those most immediately impacted by these Balikatan Exercises are the fisherfolk in Zambales, on whom the Philippine government imposed an 18 day fishing ban. Col. Michael Logico, the spokesperson for the Balikatan Exercises, dismissed the concerns of locals and said that it is nothing but “a small inconvenience that we are asking from our fishermen.” 18 days of lost income for impoverished Filipinos in an already precarious industry.
We can look to history as a warning - increased United States military presence in the Philippines has led to egregious human rights violations, like in the cases of Jennifer Laude who was murdered by U.S. marine, Joseph Scott Pemberton in 2014. Recently, Staff Sgt. Moeun Yoeun, a former U.S. soldier, was indicted for sex trafficking children, producing images of child sexual abuse and traveling to sexually abuse children while in the Philippines. We’ve also seen increased environmental degradation that comes as a result of military presence in the region, like the destruction of the Tubbataha reef, when a US ship rammed into the natural reefs and caused irreparable damage.
In engaging in these exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the United States is effectively signing off on the atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Philippine military.
While the cost of the exercises are kept under tight wraps, it is clear through the amount of forces deployed, equipment used, and areas covered that this is an expensive undertaking. As Filipinos continue to struggle to put food on the table, pay for rising health care costs, and find stable jobs and housing, putting on the Balikatan Exercises reveals the Marcos Jr. regime’s disregard for Filipino lives, economic security, and mortal safety from war.
What can you do?
Attend 4/27 National Day of Actions:
bayanusa.org/balikatan-2023
Attend 4/30 2:30pm pt / 5:30pm ET:
Military Bases & US Empire with David Vine tinyurl.com/mny-vine
Support the Philippine Human Rights Act:
humanrightsph.org
Resources:
