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Subscribe to RSSAmerican and Philippine troops waded ashore in a mock assault to retake a coastal base from "terrorists." NBC's Ian Williams reports.
ULUGAN BAY, Philippines – First ashore were a group of scouts, swimming slowly and silently to the beach, gauging the defenses before calling in the main body of 84 U.S. and Philippine Marines.
It was all stealth – at least until they were surrounded by camera-wielding journalists.
"Will the media please stay in a group to one side," came the plea through loud speakers from the sort of master-of-ceremonies from the Philippines military.
"This would normally be taking place at night," he informed us. "And they would be wearing night-goggles," he continued. "Please will the media stay to one side."
Ian Williams /NBC News
U.S. and Philippine Marines participate in a joint exercise in Ulugan Bay, Philippines on Wednesday.
The main body of Marines swept in, crouching in their inflatables, guns at the ready. But the journalists were equally well prepared. The Philippines media is nothing if not feisty, and completely ignored the increasingly forlorn voice on the loud speaker. They were immediately at the side of the Marines as, through a fog of fake smoke grenades, they launched an assault on a compound that had been taken over by "terrorists.”
"Will the media please group to one side,” the refrain continued. Thank goodness the troops were firing blanks.
Playing down China’s fears
These exercises are an annual event, and Wednesday's drill was the culmination of two weeks of exercises that have involved 4,500 U.S. soldiers and 2,500 from the Philippines.
It comes at a time of rising tension in the energy-rich South China Sea, ownership of which is disputed by China (which claims just about all of it), as well as the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Beijing has been increasingly assertive in the area, and the U.S.-Philippine drill coincides with a tense stand-off between Chinese and Philippine vessels around Scarborough Shoal in a different part of the South China Sea.
Beijing has condemned the current exercises, saying it raises the risk of confrontation. But U.S. officials Wednesday were keen to play down the China angle, insisting the exercises were all routine.
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US and Philippine Marines participate in a joint exercise in Ulugan Bay, Philippines on Wednesday.
"[The joint-exercises] been taking place for decades," Ensign Bryan Mitchell, the US. Marine spokesman, told me.
"The planning took place months and months ago. There are a whole range of real world applications." Much of this year's exercises have been geared towards humanitarian relief, he added.
"For us this exercise is all about achieving inter-operability, and we are not allowing any of the other things going on to let us lose focus on that."
The purpose of the exercise was a little more blurred for Neil Estrella, a spokesman for the Philippine forces. An exuberant man in dark glasses, he waved his arms towards the South China Sea in front of him.
"China, they claim it all," he said with a sharp distaining laugh. "They'll be claiming America next."
I asked him about the scenario of Wednesday's exercise, re-taking a coastal base from "terrorists."
There was another disdainful laugh as he shifted his glasses. "This could just as easily be an island," he said. "We call them terrorists – but it’s a generic term."
As we spoke, loud pops and bangs punctuated the conversation as the Marines continued to clear the buildings behind us, and the increasingly exasperated voice on the loud speaker urged: "Will the media PLEASE keep to one side."
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Hopefully this will teach the Chinese to mind their own business instead of attempting to seize another country's territory.. Just because they were the first ones to discover them doesnt give them that right.. Thats akin to Portugal claiming the entire North America continent because they were the first ones to discover it..
The Philippines bought the islands, decades ago and its theirs according to international maritime law..
Or America owning Hawaii because they "Annexed it". Or England grabbing most of the west indies, India, most of Africa, the middle east......the spanish, french, . wait, it's ok when the whitey's do it?
China has been claiming those islands for centuries now, whereas Philippines only started claiming it in 1992. If it truly belong to them, why did the filippinos not say something before 1992?
Now Please read this. Search Bajo de Masinloc by the Spanish regime of the time -- the Carta Hydrographical y Chorographica De Las Yslas Filipinas by the Jesuit priest Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, and published in 1734. "Bajo de Masinloc" as part of the northwestern Philippine province of Zambales is indicated in that map.
”In 1792, another map drawn by the Alejandro Malaspina expedition and published in 1808 in Madrid, Spain, also showed Bajo de Masinloc as part of Philippine territory. This map showed the route of the Malaspina expedition to and around the shoal. It was reproduced in the Atlas of the 1939 Philippine Census.
Look for "Bajo de Masinloc," also named “Panatag” by Philippine authorities, in those maps and determine for yourself whose territory it is and under whose maritime jurisdiction it should be.
Look for "Bajo de Masinloc," also named “Panatag” by Philippine authorities, in those maps and determine for yourself whose territory it is and under whose maritime jurisdiction it should be. “Bajo de Masinloc” by the Spanish regime of the time -- the Carta Hydrographical y Chorographica De Las Yslas Filipinas by the Jesuit priest Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, and published in 1734. "Bajo de Masinloc" as part of the northwestern Philippine province of Zambales is indicated in that map. ”In 1792, another map drawn by the Alejandro Malaspina expedition and published in 1808 in Madrid, Spain, also showed Bajo de Masinloc as part of Philippine territory. This map showed the route of the Malaspina expedition to and around the shoal. It was reproduced in the Atlas of the 1939 Philippine Census.
The “Mapa General, Islas Filipinas, Observatorio de Manila,” published in 1990 by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, also included Bajo de Masinloc as part of the Philippines.
You are absolutely right! China is the bully in this case. China wants control over that area so they can illegally poach some of the endangered wildlife there that is currently protected by the Philippines and also through the the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Already there have been reports of poaching of live sharks, giants clams, and illegally collected corals. I think the US and the Philippines should stand their ground on this one. Otherwise, China will think they can come in and take whatever they want.
This training will really come in handy if the US decides to invade the Philippines.
China claiming islands much closer to the Philippines and have not assert that claim when we have american bases.It is time to allow american bases again in the country.
What is going on, is that China is slowing trying to annexed those areas that belong to the Philippines. China has defended their fisherman at the same time, which only goes to show you that if we are not careful, they will plunder its resources and think nothing of it.
So if North Korea and Cuba decided to stage Naval wargames in the waters around Cuba, the US wouldn't think that was cause for alarm. Really, Washington, the Nuclear submarines 500 miles from your coast are just "Routine"
You think North Korea has a fleet that can reach Cuba?
Innertubes with sails. Subs are just deflated innertubes.
China is woried about 7,000 men compaired to its 2 milliom man army? + the USA and PI have been doing war games for many years now.
Why is China getting their panties in a twist.
China and Russia are having war-games of their own. China and Russia together cannot be beat by the US and her allies.
I wonder if the Secret Service is there? The Philippines are well known for their prostitutes as well
What is the relevance of secret service and prostitutes to this story island dispute ?
US and Philippines do have joint exercise every year in an area north of Luzon island. This time the exercise is conducted west of Palawan Island close to the disputed South China sea area. Therefore it is hardly any "routine."
Philippine is no match to China militarily and economically and Philippine is fully aware of that. But Philippine stirs up trouble in confrontational to China only at the stigation and support of US, so that US has an excuse to be move in the South China Sea region(part of Obama policy of returning to Asia). US is implementing a policy of containing China, in the north Asia region US has already have military alliance with S Korean and Japan as well as bases there. Philippine provides a handy opportunity for US to contain China at her southern flank. Further west US is cultivating anti China sentiment with Vietnam and India.
Actually China has been known to be poaching in the area, which is why the Philippines is "stirring up trouble". Those species are protected marine wildlife and China is flouting international law by going there.
Your bias is showing, Philippines arent the ones who started this and China is having territory disputes with most of its neighbors. Also the Vietnamese are telling other countries they must stand up to China, last time I checked Vietnam and the US arent exactly close..
It doesn't matter who started but I know that it has been happening for more than 50 years.
The first Balikatan Exercise occurred in 1991 and has been an annual event ever since. 21 years of this makes it a very routine event. Military exercises are not planned in 2 weeks...in fact next year's Balikatan is most likely in the drawing boards.
The Balikatan Exercise was conducted every year in an area north of Luzon. This time it is in areas west of Palawan, therefore makes it not routine.
@ Phillip Woon...Are you kidding? The U.S., England, India, etc... couldn't beat the Chinese and Russia? I hate to break it to you but Russia is no longer the cold war power USSR. While I would agree they have well trained soldiers and better than average equipment, most of her military might was broken long ago along with her economy as a direct result of trying to keep pace in the cold war. And China, definitely a financial and numerical threat are countered very well by our allies, especially India. I guess the Russians and Chinese have the nukes, but let's face it if they go that road once the U.S. alone launches its stockpile there plain and simply will be no one around but the cockroaches to talk about who won.
balikatan...i was there in 2009 taking part of that training. i sure do miss it...
Or else what?? We may have just decided to "snap" later that night and storm into civilian homes murdering and torching at random? What kind of a statement is this to appear in a national "news" article?? MSN suprises me more and more every day with this crap...
Ok just wiki'd Spratly Islands and it seems China has mapped the islands dating back to the Yuan dynasty in the 1300s and before any Europeans have. Second is Vietnam in the 1800s... So why is US helping Philippine's claim? Not surprised though. This is not the first time US has used the excuse of other countries being aggressive so they can have military presence in the region. This is why they have military bases across the world and has spent more money on their military than the rest of the world combined... It's to protect the "aggressors". While they are at it, how come they don't complain about Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory by staging war games or complain about Japan's occupation of islands that belong to Korea and Chinese and instead support Phillipine's claim of territory that the Chinese have clearly discovered and claimed before the Filipinos?
Not the first time US has used cold war tactics against China... And this is an American site after all filled with patriotic Americans that support the cause, but let's not make it sound like its a justified cause. Just say you are doing this because you hate on the Chinese and want to protect American global hegemony. Last I checked nobody is staging war games in North America when there's US presence in the gulf of Mexico. Lets not be silly here and believe its justified. Its a cold war tactic. : )
after extensive review of ancient history and literature textbooks, Chinese knew nothing about south china sea because they were mainly continental people. With their emerging might, they want to bully its neighbors to make a fait accompli.Extensive review of history and literature textbooks: Chinese are purely mainland people and knew nothing about the Eastern Sea (South China Sea)
Eyedrd, Wheres your source in this? The Chinese has reached as far as Africa since the 1400s during the Ming dynasty. Yet you are saying they don't know anything about the South China sea? lol
So, what your trying to say here is, china can claim these islands so near to the Philippines because they discovered and mapped it way earlier the Philippines did? If we are going to follow this logic, is it also right for Mongolia to claim half of the world because Ghenghis Khan conquered it back in the 10th-11th century? I don't think so. International Laws have been made to resolve these issues. If China think that their claims have basis, why do they keep on refusing the invitation of the Philippine Government to settle the dispute in the International Tribunal for the Laws of the Sea and present evidence that will support their claims. They don't want to because they know that their claims base on ancient history wont stand in the tribunal. Countries and territories were formed as time goes by and together with these boundaries of each country were defined, so to base a claim of a territory, (that was already declared part of the Islands of the Philippines when Spanish conquistadors draw the map and formed the then province of Spain), from ancient history is laughable and does not make sense at all.
for China to claim an island 200KM away from main island of the Philippines and more that 1200KM away from the nearest shore from China is insane. What they're trying to do here is to set a precedent. Picking the weakest country in south east asia, claim an island stone throw away from Manila and if the Philippine government do not react then they will assert their claim for the entire south china sea. If Philippine government allow them to take ownership of these islands way down south of south china sea then it is the same as solidifying and supporting China's claim for the entire south china sea.
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A lot of Politicians from the Philippines refuse to revoke that law that they past 20 years ago of closing all the U.S. bases there. The U.S. can't do much but be on the side for right now. China will back off i'm pretty sure now that the U.S. is involved but China will again kick the Philippine military to the curb and there is nothing that the Philippine government can do about. The effective solution is to revoke that law and invoke another law that allows U.S. to have a base there.
There is another U.S. ally in the South China, that ally is Vietnam. This new friendship is remarkable. Their is an un-said alliance involving the P.I., Vietnam, Singapore, India, and the U.S.. U.S. warships pay regular visit to Can Rahn Bay, and India has a base of operations there. Combined with the $60 Billion upgrade at the U.S. Navy Base Gaum, China is, and should be concerned. Foot Note. F16's to the P.I. Airforce.