Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Thousands of soldiers from the Philippines and the United States have begun joint military exercises in a region in the South China Sea disputed with Beijing.
The 12-day amphibious landing exercises - involving about 3,500 US marines and sailors and 1,200 Filipino counterparts - were officially launched from the western island of Palawan, directly facing the South China Sea.
The choice is not random. Manila last month lodged an official complaint with Beijing over China's increasingly assertive naval presence in the Reed Bank, which is fuelling Filipino nationalism against the Asian giant.
However, Philippines marine spokesman Lieutenant Jerber Anthony Belonio stressed that the location of the opening ceremonies was not linked to the territorial dispute.
"This has no relation whatsoever. This is just to show the capabilities of our new marine landing brigade which coincidentally is based in Palawan," he said.
The Philippines has recently beefed up its military assets in Palawan, the country's main outpost in the South China Sea, which is a vital sea-lane and a valuable fishing ground.
The US Marine Corps said the exercises would "enhance the interoperability between US Navy and Marine Corps forces and their Philippine counterparts with a focus on improving our bilateral response to regional issues and maritime security crises".
The Philippines, as well as others, has been increasingly worried about Beijing's imperialism in the South China and East China Seas.
Beijing claims most of the sea (almost 85 per cent), including sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands, in opposition to Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.
For the United States, which backs the claims of Southeast Asia nations, Beijing's so-called 'cow tongue' line is both "illegal" and "irrational".
Holding hegemonic sway over the region would give a strategic advantage in terms of seabed (oil and gas) development, but also trade, since some two thirds of the world's maritime trade transit through it.