Sri Lanka, India forge defense, energy ties during Modi’s visit

MANILA: More than 14,000 Filipino and American soldiers kicked off annual military exercises on Monday for a “full battle test” between the two defense treaty allies in the face of regional security concerns, including tensions in the South China Sea. The annual “Balikatan” (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises will run for three weeks until May 9, showcasing an array of US weapons that include the NMESIS anti-ship missile system and HIMARS rocket launchers.
The Philippines will test its own modern missiles in live-fire exercises with American counterparts, according to a summary shared with media.
Lt. Gen. James Glynn, the exercise director for the US side, described this year’s drills as “full battle tests” where capabilities of both forces will be measured in multiple scenarios. Exercises include defending against missile threats, preventing invasions at sea, and sinking a decommissioned Philippine navy vessel in a maritime strike test.
“The full battle tests is intended to take into consideration all of the regional security challenges that we face today, beginning in the South China Sea,” Glynn told a media briefing.
About 9,000 US soldiers and 5,000 Filipino troops are participating this year, officials said. Small contingents from Australia, Japan, Britain, France and Canada are also participating and 16 other countries have signed up as observers. The exercises come as regional tensions simmer in Asia over China’s activities in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, which neighbors the Philippines. Major General Francisco Lorenzo, the exercises director for the Philippines, said the drills were not directed at any country, but could act as deterrent against conflict.
“The Balikatan exercise may probably help deter the conflict in Taiwan. But for our concern, it is only for deterrence of any possible coercion or invasion to our country,” Lorenzo said.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated the past two years over run-ins between their coast guards in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims sovereignty over almost in its entirety.

NEW DELHI: US Vice President JD Vance began a four-day visit to India on Monday as New Delhi looks to seal an early trade deal and stave off punishing US tariffs.
Vance’s visit comes two months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
A red carpet welcome with an honor guard and troupes of folk dancers greeted Vance after he stepped out into the sweltering sunshine of New Delhi, where he is set to meet with Modi.
Vance’s tour also includes a trip to Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, the white marble mausoleum commissioned by a Mughal emperor.
The US vice president is accompanied by his family, including his wife Usha, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, with New Delhi’s broadcasters dubbing the visit “semi-private.”
Modi, 74, and Vance, 40, are expected to “review the progress in bilateral relations” and also “exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” India’s foreign ministry said last week.
India and the United States are negotiating the first tranche of a trade deal, which New Delhi hopes to secure within the 90-day pause on tariffs announced by Trump earlier this month.
“We are very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week.
Vance was welcomed at the airport by Ashwini Vaishnaw, a senior member of Modi’s government.
Vance’s visit comes during an escalating trade war between the United States and China. India’s neighbor and rival faces US levies of up to 145 percent on many products.
Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.
India has so far reacted cautiously.
After the tariffs were announced, India’s Department of Commerce said it was “carefully examining the implications,” adding it was “also studying the opportunities that may arise.”
Modi, who visited the White House in February, has an acknowledged rapport with Trump, who said he shares a “special bond” with the Indian leader.
Trump, speaking while unveiling the tariffs, said Modi was a “great friend” but that he had not been “treating us right.”
During his visit to Washington, Modi said that the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement.”
While the United States is a crucial market for India’s information technology and services sectors, Washington has made billions of dollars in new military hardware sales to New Delhi in recent years.
Trump could visit India later this year for a summit of heads of state from the Quad – a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.