U.S. and Philippine officials conducted live-fire military drills designed to train troops to repel a maritime attack amid a series of confrontations with China‘s forces in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
“We are simulating a threat coming from the sea to our shorelines so we are using our multi-domain capabilities to defend our sovereignty,” Philippine Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Romulo Quemado, Jr., told reporters, per the South China Morning Post.
The live-fire drills involved a pair of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, a U.S.-made ground-based artillery system that has gained international fame during the war in Ukraine, where they have played a crucial role in striking Russian targets in flat eastern Ukrainian fields. In the Philippines, however, the latest drills showcased their ability to strike targets in the South China Sea, a vital waterway China has claimed as its sovereign territory, in defiance of an international court ruling in favor of the Philippines.
“For our HIMARS, what we do is we work as a close part of that combined joint task force to really look at potential adversaries,” U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Bernard Harrington, commander of the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, told reporters. “We look at protecting the sovereignty here.”
That explanation could not fail to evoke the thought of a clash with China. The live-fire exercise, which occurred Thursday as part of a major annual military exercise unfolding between April 22 and May 8, took place amid a chorus of Philippine complaints about the latest confrontation between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, an incident this week in which a pair of Chinese coast guard vessels used high-powered water cannons against a Philippine coast guard vessel, and damaged another government agency’s vessel trying to deliver supplies to Filipino fishermen.
“This is the first time that the Coast Guard vessel has been subject to a direct water cannon with that kind of pressure that resulted in structural damage,” Philippine coast guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said.
The incident left Philippine policymakers fuming.
“Are we going to give in to intimidation? I think those are the questions that we have to remember on (the) West Philippine Sea. I can speak on behalf of everyone, we condemn this incident, and we condemn the narrative of China,” Rodge Gutierrez, a member of the Philippine House special committee on the West Philippine Sea (the name of the disputed waters preferred in Manila), said Wednesday. “We will not stand for this. And you can be rest assured that here in Congress, we will be taking this seriously.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. hopes to modernize their forces against the possibility of a clash with China by the end of his first term in 2028, according to a top diplomat.
“That’s what we’re after. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get that. With friends in the US Congress, that would be a big help to us in the Armed Forces,” Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez told a Philippine media outlet on Sunday. “We’re seeing that maybe before the end of President Marcos’ term, our Armed forces are fully ready in our defense posture and strategy, which we are doing now with the United States.”
The live-fire drills on Thursday were the first to be conducted “in the direction of the South China Sea,” as the South China Morning Post noted. The HIMARS made their debut in the annual drills last year as U.S. and Philippine officials seek to expand the arsenal of land-based artillery and missile assets in the country.
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Quemado, the Philippine general, declined to comment on how China would interpret the latest fusillade.
“That’s very speculative,” he said. “This is quite a distance and we are only firing within our maritime zones and territory.”