Australian troops may join US-Filipino Balikatan exercises in West Philippine Sea

Philippine officials have said Aust troops may join Filipino and US troops in large scale combat exercises.

Aust troops may join US-Filipino exercises

Philippine defense officials say they have discussed the possibility of Australian forces joining large-scale combat exercises between Filipino and American troops in the country.

The Australian forces' possible inclusion in the annual "Balikatan" exercises, which involve thousands of American and Filipino troops, would expand the US-Philippine drills that have infuriated China whenever they were held in the past near the South China Sea.

China and five other Asian countries have been locked in territorial disputes in the potentially oil-rich region.

Filipino and Australian defense officials discussed the proposal in a recent meeting in Manila.

The two countries have sought to considerably expand joint military exercises since the Philippine Senate ratified in July the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows Australian forces to join combat exercises in the Philippines.

The Philippines has a similar 1999 pact with the United States, which is a treaty ally.

American and Philippine forces hold large-scale combat exercises in the country every year.

Hundreds of American counterterrorism troops have been allowed to stay in the country's volatile south since 2002 to train Filipino soldiers battling al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Philippine defense department spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said the proposal to include Australia in the "Balikatan" exercises was at a preliminary stage and would need to be discussed with the US military.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told The Associated Press early this month that Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith plans to visit early next year to discuss joint field exercises that would include training in natural disasters and containing terrorism and other threats.

The presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former American colony.

The Philippine Constitution forbids foreign troops from being permanently based in the country, and the Senate must ratify agreements governing temporary visits by outside forces. (http://is.gd/r12Ycq)

The Australian News