Richard Heydarian is a senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines and author of "The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China and the New Struggle for Global Mastery."
This year's edition of the annual Balikatan (should-to-shoulder) exercises between the Philippines and the U.S. has been especially consequential. The two allies will conduct one of the largest-ever joint military drills on record, with as many as 12,000 U.S. troops in participation, and will also conduct a "full-scale battle scenario" to underscore growing military interoperability and shared threat perceptions, especially toward China.
