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US deploys anti-ship missiles in Philippines, close to Taiwan, amid Chinese belligerence
While both Washington and Manila have denied that the exercises are aimed at any specific country, the messaging— and the locations chosen— appear to leave little doubt. China's government has fiercely condemned the drills, accusing the US of provocation in the region read more
The United States military has, for the first time, deployed a sophisticated anti-ship missile launcher to Batan Island in the Philippines in a high-profile show of force just across the sea from Taiwan and amid rising tensions with China.
The backdrop to these drills is one of intensifying military manoeuvres across East Asia. Earlier this month, China staged large-scale exercises encircling Taiwan, featuring naval, air, ground, and rocket forces, in what Beijing said was a warning against any moves towards formal independence by the island's democratically elected government.
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Messaging via military exercise
Marines airlifted the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) to the remote northern tip of the Philippine archipelago on Saturday (April 26), as US and Filipino forces separately conducted live-fire exercises in Zambales province, targeting mock hostile drones in drills facing the contested South China Sea.
The activities form part of the annual Balikatan military exercises, which this year have been marked by a striking escalation in scale and realism. About 9,000 US troops, 5,000 Filipino personnel, and contingents from Australia, Japan, and other countries are taking part. The exercises are being held across multiple locations, several of them near strategic flashpoints that have become increasingly contested between China and the United States.
Speaking to a small group of journalists invited to witness the deployment, US Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm stressed the defensive nature of the operations.
'We're not here practising a war plan,' Cederholm said. 'We're practicing for the defence of the Philippines.'
Cederholm was careful not to specify whether the anti-ship missile system would be withdrawn after the conclusion of Balikatan on May 9, noting only: 'We don't broadcast when we're going in, when we're coming out and how long things are going to stay…All I'll say is we're here at the invitation and with the support of the Philippine government.'
China on alert
While both Washington and Manila have denied that the exercises are aimed at any specific country, the messaging— and the locations chosen— appear to leave little doubt. China's government has fiercely condemned the drills, accusing the US of provocation in the region.
Over the weekend, an aircraft carrier group belonging to China's People's Liberation Army Navy was spotted passing near Batanes, just days after the US landed its NMESIS battery there, strategically positioned near the Bashi Channel, a critical maritime corridor south of Taiwan vital for global trade and military operations.
The ambiguity over the duration of the deployment of anti-ship missiles is likely to further aggravate Beijing, which had already reacted sharply to the US Army's earlier deployment of a mid-range missile system in the Philippines last year.
That battery, capable of firing Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and Standard Missile-6 interceptors, was quietly repositioned earlier this year from Laoag City Airport to a coastal location facing the Scarborough Shoal— an area where tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated in recent months.
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