Rowegie Abanto

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Marine Corps conduct a live-fire exercise against an imaginary enemy target facing the West Philippine Sea at the Laoag Sand Dunes on May 6, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Marine Corps conduct a live-fire exercise against an imaginary enemy target facing the West Philippine Sea at the Laoag Sand Dunes on May 6, 2024. 
Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

2024 Balikatan Exercise

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177674102596820240506-balikatan-laoag-ilocos-JC-9722.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Marine Corps conduct a live-fire exercise against an imaginary enemy target facing the West Philippine Sea at the Laoag Sand Dunes on May 6, 2024. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span>MANILA (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) — The secretary of the national defense on Tuesday criticized China&#x27;s warning against the &quot;biggest ever&quot; war games of the Philippines and the US, saying Beijing&#x27;s intentions had always been &quot;sinister.&quot;</div><p>&quot;There is no trust at all in China because their intentions are sinister and non-transparent,&quot; Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview on ANC.</p><p>Thousands of American and Philippine troops, joined for the first time by a significant contingent of Japanese forces, began the annual Balikatan, or &quot;Shoulder to Shoulder,&quot; exercises Monday.</p><p>The war games will feature live-fire exercises in the north of the Philippines facing the Taiwan Strait, as well as a province off the disputed South China Sea, where Philippine and Chinese forces have engaged in repeated confrontations.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/20/us-begins-philippines-war-games-in-thick-of-middle-east-conflict-0946">US, Philippines begin &#x27;biggest ever&#x27; Balikatan in thick of Middle East conflict</a></div><p>China slammed the joint exercises on Monday, saying the United States, Japan and the Philippines were &quot;playing with fire.&quot;</p><p>&quot;What the Asia-Pacific region needs most is peace and tranquility, and what it needs least is the introduction of external forces to sow division and confrontation,&quot; Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news briefing.</p><p>&quot;We wish to remind the countries concerned that blindly binding themselves together in the name of security will only be akin to playing with fire -- ultimately backfiring upon themselves,&quot; he added.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/20/think-tank-balikatan-exercises-correct-path-forward-1919">Think tank: Balikatan exercises ‘correct path forward’</a></div><p>But Teodoro said the war games were only &quot;an exercise of collective deterrence,&quot; noting that if China negatively reacted &quot;then it means to say whatever plans they have are deterred.&quot; </p><p>&quot;If the shoe fits, it&#x27;s not the problem of the participant, it is their problem,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It is always for China a question of guilt avoidance and the world knows these kinds of messages only serve to concretize the case that they are against the world in terms of freedom of navigation, in terms of norms,&quot; Teodoro said.</p><p>&quot;And it is undoubted that they really have an expansionist agenda.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>EDCA SITES</strong></div><p>Meanwhile, Teodoro said that there had only been &quot;marginal&quot; use of Philippine military bases to US forces, called the EDCA sites, because of land issues.</p><p>The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement allows US troops to rotate through the bases and also store defense equipment and supplies at them.</p><p>&quot;The use of the EDCA sites has been marginal because some of these, we still have to settle the land and tenurial issues,&quot; Teodoro said. </p><p>He noted that the delays in the development of the sites were also due to other issues.</p><p>&quot;Merong iba na nakatayo, merong iba na inaayos pa yung papeles. Yung iba na potential sites wala pang Philippine air force presence kasi nga yung infrastructure sa mga lugar na yun mahirap gawin,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;Maraming delays. Yun nga ang nakakaubos ng oras ko kasi napakahirap ng delays. Dito sa project execution dito tayo matumal.&quot;</p><p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2023 expanded the agreement giving American troops access to nine Philippine military bases, including in the far north of the country, which has infuriated Chinese leaders.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>AFP PUSHES BACK VS CHINA </strong></div><p>The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday also pushed back against China&#x27;s criticism of the 41st iteration of the Balikatan Exercise, stressing that the drills are a legitimate exercise of Philippine sovereignty and not directed against any country.</p><p>AFP spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad underscored that Manila&#x27;s actions are anchored on its rights as a sovereign state.</p><p>&quot;First and foremost, we have to understand that the actions of the government of the Republic of the Philippines are one of a sovereign state. Meaning to say, we are allowed to engage any like-minded country, any like-minded state in furtherance of our national interest,&quot; Trinidad told reporters in a phone interview.</p><p>The official emphasized that Balikatan and similar exercises are part of the country&#x27;s broader defense modernization and diplomacy efforts.</p><p>&quot;These are all geared towards making the AFP more modern, more multi-capable,&quot; he said. &quot;They are not designed against any particular country. They are defensive in nature—meaning to say, all the projects under our program for modernization are designed to be able to secure and to protect what is rightfully and legally ours.&quot;</p><p>Trinidad reiterated that the AFP&#x27;s modernization efforts are focused solely on protecting Philippine territory and sovereign rights.</p><p>&quot;We have no intent of claiming what is not ours. We are not disrupting the peace in the region,&quot; he said.</p><p>He then pointed to China&#x27;s actions as a source of regional tension: &quot;On the other hand, the constant war rhetoric of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), their rapid military build-up and their illegal presence, coercive and aggressive actions, and deceptive messaging have been the reasons for instability in the region.&quot;</p><p>Amid scheduled Balikatan activities in the West Philippine Sea, the military acknowledged that the presence of Chinese vessels during bilateral and multilateral exercises is not new.</p><p>&quot;Our activities engaging like-minded nations, conducting bilateral and multilateral maritime cooperative activities in our maritime domain will continue even after Balikatan,&quot; Trinidad said.</p><p>Despite Beijing&#x27;s repeated criticisms, the AFP said it will remain undeterred.</p><p>&quot;These are expected of them. What do we expect of them—they would applaud us? It&#x27;s all part of the deceptive messaging,&quot; Trinidad noted.</p><p>&quot;We are unfazed by that. We are, we will not be deterred from performing our mandate, from continuing exercises with our like-minded partners,&quot; he stressed.</p><div> </div><div><strong>PCG ON BALIKATAN  </strong></div><p>For the Philippine Coast Guard, its participation in this year&#x27;s Balikatan exercises will boost its humanitarian assistance, response, and maritime domain awareness.</p><p>PCG spokesperson Commodore Noemi Cayabyab said around 500 PCG personnel were deployed, including four of their ships, for interoperability training during the Balikatan.</p><p>The maritime and security exercises include at sea maneuvers, communication drills, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.</p><p>&quot;Ibig sabihin mas organisado, mas sistematiko ang ating magiging response. Nagsisimula yan dapat mayroon tayong system on how to receive information. Ito, kasama yan, isa sa mga objectives ng exercise – information sharing and maritime domain awareness,&quot; Cayabyab said in a public briefing.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E3o7uaKNPJ4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>The secretary of the national defense on Tuesday criticized China's warning against the "biggest ever" war games of the Philippines and the US, saying Beijing's intentions had always been "sinister."</p>

The secretary of the national defense on Tuesday criticized China's warning against the "biggest ever" war games of the Philippines and the US, saying Beijing's intentions had always been "sinister."

Defense chief criticizes 'sinister' China intentions after its remark vs Balikatan exercises

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Defense chief criticizes 'sinister' China intentions after its remark vs Balikatan exercises

Rowegie Abanto,

Bianca Dava,

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News; Agence France-Presse

Published April 21, 2026 11:28 AM PHT

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Updated April 21, 2026 04:57 PM PHT

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