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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
April 21, 2026 | 2:30pm
MANILA, Philippines — China warned the Philippines and its allies they were "playing with fire" on the opening of the largest Balikatan exercises in history on Monday, April 20 — drills that for the first time brought Japanese combat forces on Philippine soil since World War II.
"We wish to remind the countries concerned that blindly binding themselves together in the name of security will only be akin to playing with fire -- ultimately backfiring upon themselves," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in Beijing.
China's warning was delivered as Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told troops of different nationalities at Camp Aguinaldo during the Balikatan opening rites to "stand together, to act together, and when necessary, defend together."
This year's Balikatan — Tagalog for "shoulder to shoulder" — is the most expansive iteration of the annual exercises since they began in the 1990s. More than 17,000 troops from seven countries, including about 10,000 Americans, will train across the Philippines from April 20 to May 8.
For the first time, Japan, Canada, France, and New Zealand are participating as active partners rather than observers, joining the Philippines, the United States, and Australia. Seventeen additional nations will observe the drills.
The drills also coincide with the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Philippine-US mutual defense treaty and take place amid a surge in real-world flashpoints.
China has recently deployed a floating barrier at Scarborough Shoal, encounters between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea have grown more frequent and tense, and the Philippines has been hit particularly hit with rising fuel costs linked to the US-led conflict in the Middle East.
'The world has seen enough damage'
At his regular press briefing in Beijing, Guo made no direct mention of China's own military activities in the South China Sea when asked about the drills. Instead, the Chinese official implied the exercises are itself a source of tension in the region.
"The world has seen enough damage done by unilateralism and abuse of military might," he said. "What the Asia-Pacific needs most is peace and tranquility, and the last thing the region needs is division and confrontation as a result of the introduction of external forces."
He added that military cooperation "should not target any third party or harm the interests of any third party."
US Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Christian Wortman, the exercise's American director, rejected the characterization that the drills targeted any nation. Asked whether the drills specifically target China, he said: "Emphatically no. There is no target nation."
During the Balikatan exercises, live-fire drills will take place in northern Luzon, facing the Taiwan Strait, and in Palawan, overlooking the South China Sea.
The Philippine Marines' BrahMos supersonic cruise missile — the most powerful weapon in the country's arsenal — will undergo simulation firing during a joint maritime strike exercise off northern Luzon.
Japan crosses a historic threshold
The most significant shift in this year's Balikatan is Japan's outsized role.
Besides deploying roughly 1,400 troops, Japan will also have its forces fire Type 88 surface-to-ship missiles in a live-fire sinking exercise. This will be the first time Japanese forces will have used the weapon system outside their territory.
Brawner confirmed this as well at a symposium last month: "Before, we were on opposite sides. This time, we find ourselves on the same side," he said.
Until this year, Japan's role in Balikatan had been limited to observers and humanitarian assistance personnel. Its expanded participation follows the enforcement of the Japan-Philippines Reciprocal Access Agreement in September 2025, which streamlined procedures for troop deployments between the two countries.
China's state-run Global Times said Japan's deployment signaled the "resurgence of its militarism" and accused Tokyo of breaching its post-war restrictions on overseas troop deployments.
The bigger context to this outside the Philippines is that China and Japan are currently in the middle of their worst diplomatic crisis in years.
Relations between them nosedived after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. Beijing took this as a signal that Tokyo was ostensibly prepared to go to war over the island.
Just three days before Balikatan opened, a Japanese destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a passage Beijing called "a deliberate provocation.
A region under strain
The Balikatan drills are also taking place as China keeps dialing up its campaign of assertiveness and aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
China has deployed a 352-meter floating barrier, fishing boats, and a coast guard or naval vessel to block the entrance to Scarborough Shoal — a traditional fishing ground within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, Reuters reported last week based on satellite imagery.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Jay Tarriela said six Chinese maritime militia vessels were positioned inside the shoal, with three more outside, effectively choking off access for Filipinos.
The drills also take place as the Philippines struggles under a national energy emergency declared in late March following the disruption of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
The oil crisis has had an impact on the conduct of this year's exercises.
"I would not deny that it affected us… in terms of supporting our requirements," said Col. Dennis Hernandez, the AFP's Balikatan spokesperson. "But we already programmed this activity prior to the crisis. These resources are already well-planned and are already in place."
The Philippines, which holds the ASEAN chairmanship this year, is simultaneously pushing to conclude negotiations on a South China Sea code of conduct with China — a goal that some observers say is unrealistic given the level of friction between the two countries at sea.
