On Tuesday, about 17,000 troops from the United States and the Philippines started training together.
China sent a warning to the US and the Philippines on Wednesday, telling them not to do anything that could hurt China’s national security or interests. Because of this, things will stay tight in the South China Sea.
In a statement from the Chinese embassy in Manila, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said that planned U.S. military drills in the Philippines “should not target any third party and should be conducive to regional peace and stability.”
Some people think that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will see a live-fire drill on April 26. Since they began on Tuesday, about 17,000 soldiers have been taking part in these drills.
Wang didn’t say what China would do if it thought that the US-Philippine security deal was bad for China’s important interests.
China held military drills in the Philippines as a way to get back at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
After the meeting, people from the United States were limited in where they could visit and their finances were hurt. The free government of Taiwan says that China then attacked the island with warships and aircraft carriers.
The office of Vice President Joe Biden says that Tsai’s visit went without a hitch.
On Tuesday, the defense and foreign affairs leaders of the US and the Philippines got together to talk about building nine more military posts in the Philippines.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the country is putting more than $100 million into the region’s facilities to make it easier for the different departments of the military to train together. This will give them an advantage when they face problems in the future.
The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement says that U.S. troops can stay at the bases for as long as they want.
China is very against the agreement because it would allow U.S. military bases and surveillance to be set up in Philippine provinces across the Taiwan Strait in the north and in the disputed South China Sea in the west, where Beijing claims almost all of the territory for historical reasons. Beijing’s claims aren’t taken very seriously in Washington.
Austin said that he and Trump had talked about making sure the US has enough military weapons for the next 5–10 years.