The Philippine defense chief says he has informed the U.S. military that plans for joint patrols and naval exercises with the Americans in the disputed South China Sea have been put on hold as the country’s new president desires.
(FOX)- Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also said Friday that 107 U.S. troops involved in operating surveillance drones against Muslim militants would be asked to leave the southern part of the country when the Philippines acquires those intelligence-gathering capabilities in the near future.
Lorenzana says President Rodrigo Duterte wants to halt 28 Philippine military exercises with U.S. forces carried out each year.
Duterte has said he wants an ongoing U.S.-Philippine combat exercise to be the last in his six-year presidency as he backs away from too much dependence on the U.S.
(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) (The Associated Press)