{"id":6703,"date":"2025-05-15T23:15:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T03:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=6703"},"modified":"2025-05-15T23:15:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T03:15:01","slug":"us-forces-deploy-anti-ship-missiles-in-philippines-and-stage-live-fire-drills-near-china-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2025\/05\/15\/us-forces-deploy-anti-ship-missiles-in-philippines-and-stage-live-fire-drills-near-china-hotspots\/","title":{"rendered":"US forces deploy anti-ship missiles in Philippines and stage live-fire drills near China hotspots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/usa-philippines-military-drills-china-antiship-missiles-faae979065546230ba9b9b12b95c790b<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher in the Philippines, in close proximity to China\u2019s coast and the island of Taiwan. U.S and Philippine forces also performed live fire drills, shooting down drones that represented hostile aircraft. 9,000 U.S troops and 5,000 Philippine troops took part in the drills, which U.S officials have stated are not targeted attack plans, but plans to defend the Philippine Islands. These drills are likely a response to China\u2019s aggressions in the South China Sea, threatening Taiwan and the Philippines, states which the U.S has a defense agreement with. China has condemned these drills as threatening, yet last month, China staged military drills around the area of Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines was the first established pacific ally of the U.S, having signed a mutual defense treaty in 1951. The U.S also has a legal obligation to defend Taiwan in the event that China attacks the island. The drills in the Philippines are situated such that the strategies practiced could be used to defend both Taiwan and the Philippines from an attack by China. This is likely because Taiwan has received the most extreme of China\u2019s aggressions in the South China Sea. Taiwan split from China after the Chinese Civil War, and has been functioning as a self governing democratic state since. China views it as a province that must be reunited with the rest of the country, and has been especially active in this pursuit recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar military drills will likely continue as the trade war with China ramps up. China may become even more aggressive in its region to assert power to gain resources or regional trade and protect its economy, especially in the case of Taiwan because of its profitable tech manufacturing industry. However, if China uses force to gain control of Taiwan or in any way threatens the Philippines, this would cause direct conflict with the U.S that has a very high potential of escalation. In the past, China would not have even considered this, but as it catches up to the U.S in economic and military power, this possibility seems more likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the treaty with the Philippines and the defense agreement with Taiwan, the U.S is legally obligated to defend these countries from China. These multilateral agreements were not just for the benefit of the Philippines and Taiwan, however, because these countries are both strategically important for the U.S, and the U.S is willing to defend them with its own military resources to keep them out of China\u2019s hands. These drills send the message to China that the U.S plans to stand by their treaty obligations. China may have gained enough power to use force to achieve its interests, but that does not mean its use of force would be accepted by the international community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/usa-philippines-military-drills-china-antiship-missiles-faae979065546230ba9b9b12b95c790b The U.S has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher in the Philippines, in close proximity to China\u2019s coast and the island of Taiwan. U.S and Philippine forces also performed live fire drills, shooting down drones that represented hostile aircraft. 9,000 U.S troops and 5,000 Philippine troops took part in the drills, which U.S officials have stated are not targeted attack… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6704,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703\/revisions\/6704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}