In new military drills, 50 Japanese soldiers and four vehicles joined ongoing US-Filipino war games at a Philippine navy base in the province of Zambales on the northern island of Luzone in the South China Sea.
A small contingent of Japanese military forces took part in a landing on a Filipino beach in Subic Bay on Saturday, assisting as a humanitarian aid during the exercise simulating recapturing territory from terrorists, AFP reported.
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This is the first military exercise to be carried out by Japanese armored military vehicles on foreign soil since the country adopted a pacifist Constitution, restricting the use of military forces and reducing its own military presence to self-defense forces as an aftermath of the country's defeat in World War II. The troops, unarmed and wearing camouflage, followed their vehicles, picking up Filipino and US troops playing the part of wounded soldiers.
“Our purpose is to improve our operational capability and this is a very good opportunity for us to improve our humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training,” Japanese Maj. Koki Inoue said, outlining that Japan was not involved in the combat component of the exercises.
The exercise called “Kamandag” — an acronym for a phrase which could be translated as “Cooperation of Warriors of the Sea” — was initially started…
