(This story from May 2 has been repeated without any changes to the text.)
Author: Adrian Portugal
BATANIS, Philippines, May 2 (Reuters) – Philippine and U.S. forces demonstrated the NMESIS anti-ship missile system in Batanes province near Taiwan on Saturday during annual military drills, amid simmering tensions with China, which considers the self-governing island its own territory.
The Philippines’ northernmost province, with about 20,000 residents, lies about 100 miles south of Taiwan along the Luzon Strait, a strategic corridor on the front lines of the great power competition between China and the United States for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Training in Batanes provides us with a different operating environment than we are typically allowed to operate in,” said U.S. Staff Sergeant Darren Gibbs.
“So it gives us a unique opportunity to actually utilize the system and train within our capabilities, and it provides experience that we don’t normally get in our day-to-day training.”
Gibbs said NMESIS is designed to be operated remotely and “the intent of the system is to make it completely autonomous and we don’t need the driver or passengers to be in the vehicle.”
“We tell it where to go, and then we program it what it needs to do,” he said.
NMESIS, a highly mobile coastal anti-ship missile system designed to target surface ships from land-based locations within a range of approximately 185 kilometers (115 miles), was flown to Batanes by a U.S. C-130 transport aircraft and deployed in the capital Basco, which has one of the province’s two small runways.
Philippine exercise chief Francisco Lorenzo told Reuters the deployment of U.S. weapons such as NMESIS in the Batanes is part of testing the viability of operations in remote areas. NMESIS was also deployed to Batanes during last year’s military exercises.
“This is part of the training to test feasibility or rehearse deployment if needed,” Lorenzo said. One of the goals of the annual Balikatan exercise between U.S. and Philippine forces, known as Balikatan, is to “defend our territory with our allies,” he said.
NMESIS will not be used for live exercise operations and is only brought to Batanes for deployment rehearsal and simulation support during military exercises.
He said the system will be withdrawn from Batanes once the exercise is over. The United States will also deploy the “Typhon” missile system in the Philippines in 2024 for joint exercises.
Beijing has frequently criticized the United States for deploying weapons in the Philippines, saying it increases regional tensions.
“NMESIS could light a powder keg for Beijing and create asymmetric deterrence against Manila and Taipei in the Bashi Channel along the Luzon Strait,” security analyst Chester Cabalza, founder and president of the Manila-based think tank International Cooperation on Development and Security, told Reuters.
The system can be airlifted and deployed to any coastline in the Philippine archipelago within hours, Cabalza said, and Beijing may view its deployment in Batanes as part of a “U.S.-led encirclement of China.”
War games involve 17,000 soldiers
Philippine and U.S. forces also conducted maritime strike exercises in Ibayat City, Batanes, about 155 kilometers from Taiwan and the country’s northernmost region.
Although Washington remains heavily involved in the Middle East, more than 17,000 troops are participating in this year’s military exercises, including about 10,000 American troops.
China has recently stepped up its activities in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, increasing its naval presence around Taiwan and sending an aircraft carrier through the strait. This month it also set up a barrier at the entrance to Scarborough Shoal, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that if a war broke out in Taiwan, Filipinos working and living in Taiwan would have to evacuate, which would “draw the Philippines into the conflict.”
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview with Reuters on April 28 that Manila has a contingency plan to evacuate Filipinos from Taiwan if conflict breaks out, but did not disclose further details.
(Reporting by Adrian Portugal; Additional reporting by Nestor Corrales; Editing by Tom Hogg)