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One of Asia's largest military exercises kicked off on Monday in the Philippines, bringing together 17,000 personnel from seven countries for land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace drills designed to project strength and solidarity as regional tensions heat up.

This year’s Exercise Balikatan, the largest and “most complex” iteration yet, runs from April 20 to May 8 and, for the first time, features Canada and Japan as full-fledged participants.

The Philippines and the U.S. co-lead Balikatan (meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder" in Tagalog). Australia, France, and New Zealand will also participate; 17 countries are observers.

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Balikatan is also an opportunity for middle powers, such as Canada and Japan, to demonstrate political resolve and improve military interoperability.

Predictably, China was not pleased with Balikatan; its foreign ministry stated, “the last thing the [Asia Pacific] needs is division and confrontation as a result of the introduction of external forces.” Beijing’s China Military Online was even more alarmist, calling Japan–Philippines military co-operation “a dangerous pivot” and “a chilling watershed moment.”

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