News Snapshot:
The United States and the Philippines have launched their largest combat exercises in decades in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, a move that is likely to inflame Beijing. The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan – Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder – will run up to 28 April and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. The drills will include live-fire exercises and a boat-sinking rocket assault. It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China about its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and...
