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Philippines, US Hold Biggest Military Exercises in Seven Years

• The Philippines and the United States kicked off on Monday their biggest joint military drills since 2015, underscoring improved defense ties after President Rodrigo Duterte had scaled back some earlier war games to pursue warmer ties with China.
  
  The annual "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises involve 8,900 troops this year and will include live fire exercises and training with amphibious assault vehicles.
  
  Since taking office in 2016, Duterte had sought closer ties with China in exchange for pledges of loans, aid and investment, and distanced himself from the United States, a treaty ally.
  
  But last year he withdrew a threat to scrap a two-decade old pact governing the presence of U.S. troops in the Southeast Asian country.
  
  "We are sending a message to the world that the alliance between our countries is stronger than ever," Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.