Manila says exercises with US not aimed at China

The head of the Philippine armed forces said on Tuesday that planned exercises and training with the United States in the next five years were not designed to send any signal to China.

The Philippines, a former US colony and long-term ally, signed a mutual defence plan with the United States on Tuesday that sets out security cooperation and all military activities from next year until 2010.

General Efren Abu, the Philippine military’s chief of staff, said a future military exercise would take place on the western island of Palawan, near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.