US, Philippine troops take part in joint military drills

SAN ANTONIO, May 09 (AFP): US and Philippine troops stormed ashore from the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday for military exercises that President Rodrigo Duterte had promised to scrap, but quietly allowed to carry on.

The decades-old tradition appeared headed for the history books last year as a newly elected Duterte pivoted toward China-and away from long-time Philippine allies the US.

But the number of troops taking part in the drills has increased by a third from last year to 8,000, a return to figures seen in years past when the exercises served as a thinly veiled deterrent to a rising China.