US, Philippines send thousands of soldiers for drills

The annual US-Philippines exercise focuses on defending the northern coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon, located about 800 km from Taiwan, according to AFP.

Philippine Marine Corps Commandant Arturo Rojas stressed at the opening ceremony today that Manila that the Kamandag exercise had been planned for a long time and was "not related to anything going on in the region".

Officers and soldiers from the US, Philippines, Japan, Australia, France, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia at the opening ceremony of the Kamandag 2024 exercise in Manila on October 15.

The main focus of the Kamandag exercise will be live-fire exercises along the northern coast of Luzon, while other activities will be conducted on the Philippines' smaller islands.

Colonel Stuart Glenn, a representative of the US Marine Corps, said the exercise was intended to help the US and its allies respond to "any crisis or contingency".

Palawan Island in the western Philippines, facing the South China Sea, will also host part of the exercise.

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The US and the Philippines will deploy a total of more than 1,000 troops for the exercise, along with smaller numbers of troops from Australia, Britain, Japan and South Korea.

A landing and training on how to defend against chemical and biological warfare are also among the planned activities, according to AFP.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/my-philippines-dieu-hang-ngan-binh-si-tap-tran-185241015141131178.htm