US and Philippines launch largest-ever joint military exercises amid tensions with China.

The US and the Philippines have begun their largest-ever joint military drills, involving over 17,000 troops, a day after China concluded large-scale exercises around Taiwan. The US had called on Beijing to show restraint. The waterways around the Philippines and around South-East Asia are among the busiest in trade and have been the subject of disputed territorial claims by China. The US is seeking access to places where "light and flexible" operations involving supplies and surveillance can be run as and when needed, rather than bases where large numbers of troops will be stationed.