‘Balikatan gives pause to adversaries of open Pacific’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and the United States officially ended yesterday the 39th joint Balikatan military exercises, which they called a success, as the event had attracted other allies and delivered a warning to those standing in the way of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

While both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US military had repeatedly insisted that the 18-day exercises were not directed at any country, China had made known early on its displeasure, accusing participants – particularly the Philippines and the US – of escalating tensions in the region.

“That should bring strength and comfort to the citizens of the United States and the Republic of the Philippines along with those who stand with us to uphold those traits and ideals I mentioned earlier, which are a free and open Indo-Pacific, of transparency and the respect of sovereignty and the seeking of peaceful resolution,” Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the US First Marine Expeditionary Force, said at the ceremony officially closing the Balikatan exercises at Camp Aguinaldo.

“These traits are crystal clear, it cannot be reasonably misconstrued. But make no mistake, it should also give pause to any adversary who does not believe in a free and open Pacific, who does not believe in transparency, who does not seek peaceful resolution but will seek to use force to impose their will on other sovereign nations,” Cederholm said.

He said this year’s Balikatan “has directly built war fighting readiness for us, it has enhanced tactics, techniques and procedures across a wide range of military operations at the same time through our humanitarian civic assistance projects.”

He noted that “in order to fulfill our responsibilities under the Mutual Defense Treaty, we must train so that we are always ready.”

“Balikatan is a tangible and perfect demonstration of US and Philippine resolve to strengthen the alliance in increasingly complex security environment by increasing our interoperability, bilaterally and across the land, air, sea space and cyberspace domain,” he maintained.

He said Balikatan 2024 has been a huge success with the participation of every single service of the US armed forces, the AFP and militaries of participant and observer nations.

“We have learned lessons from Balikatan and those learning and refinement make us stronger. We collectively are better, more capable and more lethal as a result of this exercise,” Cederholm said.

Bigger next year

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said President Marcos extends his congratulations to participants of the Balikatan, adding that next year’s event would be bigger and would involve “a full battle simulation which will put to the test the combined capabilities in the most realistic of scenarios possible with safety in mind.”

“Given the El Niño period now, it probably posed a significant challenge in operating, particularly to those on the ground,” Teodoro said. — Helen Flores