Philippines, U.S. begin military exercise, Japan fully joins 1st time

The Philippines and the United States on Monday kicked off an annual military exercise, with Japan's Self-Defense Forces fully participating for the first time in the large-scale drill aimed at enhancing defense interoperability among participating nations.A total of 17,000 personnel from seven countries including Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand are joining the Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder, exercise, which runs until May 8 with a series of war games mainly in the north and west of the Philippines.Japan is sending 1,400 personnel, its largest-ever contingent to the annual eve…READ FULL ARTICLE