American, Filipino troops to be familiarised with humanitarian and disaster training
Manila: A total of 40 aircraft from the United States and the Philippines, apart from a flotilla of US warships and Philippine Navy ships were deployed to aid 8,000 American and Filipino soldiers in their two-week humanitarian and disaster training in northern Luzon, sources said.
The training, to be held from April 5 to 17, was timely with North Korea’s declaration of war against South Korea and the US last week; and China’s aggression over other claimants in the South China Sea that began last year.
Fourteen of 20 US aircraft have already arrived at the former US Clark Air Base in Angeles, Pampanga. The rest of the US aircraft started arriving on Thursday, until April 8, Military spokesman Col Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos said.
Also participating in the exercise are 20 aircraft of the Philippine Air Force and three Philippine Navy ships, one of which is a 40-year-old high-endurance cutter BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a Hamilton-class ship acquired from the US Coast Guard, are also participating in the exercise, said Burgos.
Sea and air logistics support including services are major part of the two-week exercise, said Burgos.
A US warship, the USS Tortuga proceeded northward, to the western seaboard of the Philippines after docking in Manila last Monday, to participate in the naval exercises of the American and Filipino soldiers, on the South China Sea, near Zambales in northern Luzon, said Burgos.
He did not identify the other US warships that are participating in the training project.
China and the Philippines began a standoff near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea since last year.
About 200 American and Filipino personnel have been conducting engineering civic action projects in eight communities in Zambales, said Burgos.
At the same time, military and public officials from Australia, Brunei, Japan, South Korea and Thailand were invited to participate in a round table discussions on humanitarian and disaster preparedness in Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon City, said Burgos.
The exercises seek to address previous disaster situations that occurred recently in the Philippines, said Burgos, adding the effort was also aimed to develop a regional disaster management and emergency response mechanisms.
The US and the Philippines have signed a Mutual Defence Treaty in 1951.
China, Vietnam, and Taiwan claim the whole of the South China Sea based on their respective historical rights. Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines claim some parts of the Spratly Archipelago off the South China Sea, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that provides countries 200 exclusive economic rights starting from their shores.
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