This leap in 🇵🇭🇺🇸 security may come as a surprise to some, but if one looks at what 2022 brought I think it should be fair to say this was at least a year in the making. As well as a sign of the major things to come. A small 🧵
Starting off, to those who say that 🇵🇭 is an outlier/negilable in a 🇹🇼 contingency are wrong. This thought completely ignores the strategic position 🇵🇭 occupies in relation the flashpoints and choke points around it. Have some forgetten why 🇺🇸 has bases in 🇵🇭 in the first place?
Now, Manila is realizing its crucial location alongside the failure of around half a decade of appeasement attempts with China. With regional tensions, and an inability to independently deter threats, rapprochement with the Americans was inevitable.
So what comes in 2023? It’s going to be 2022 but larger and bolder. We’re about to see the largest ever Balikatan Exercise take place on key island features in the Luzon Strait. I cannot emphasize how much of a signal this is, and I doubt that Manila doesn’t see it as well.
It’s not just the Americans either. Japan will be making major moves going forward, enough to the point where I can surely say developments in the 🇵🇭🇯🇵 security relationship will be a highlight of 2023’s overall developments across the Indo-Pacific.
Whatever happens this year, I hope that 🇵🇭 will leverage its increasingly important position in the first island chain for issues other than 🇹🇼. If 🇺🇸 expects 🇵🇭 basing rights, then they should start stepping up in helping secure the country’s sovereignty in the WPS. /end
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American and Imperial Japanese fleets start to come within sight of each other at today’s First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal @GUWargaming session. Firing will commence soon
2022 was a major year for the Philippines defense wise. From some of the most complex exercises the country has ever seen, to the delivery of new assets, and enhanced security cooperation with partners and allies, here are some of the key highlights from 🇵🇭 this year.
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Exercises: The Philippines hosts several military activities every year, yet 2022’s exercises turned out to be some of the most intensive and complex in recent times. 2/25
Balikatan 2022 was the largest ever in the exercise’s history, with the activities hosting around 9k 🇺🇸🇵🇭🇦🇺 personnel, Patriot SAMs, HIMARS, and the inaugural deployment of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment. 3/25 ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-and-philip…