lucio pitlo, research fellow at lucio pitlo, research fellow at theasia—pacific pathways to progressially given the timing of it? these are the end of three days of military drills around taiwan. and this is the biggest iteration of thejoint taiwan. and this is the biggest iteration of the joint military drills between the philippines and the us. in terms of scale and the types of activities that will be taking place, there are three designated exercise areas, one of which is close to taiwan. the other two sides are in palawan and zimbalas provinces in theland facing the south china sea. these are very near flash point areas. of course, the beginning of these exercises also coincides with the two—plus—two ministerial meetings between the defence and foreign affairs secretaries of the philippines and the us in washington dc. this meeting is the first in seven years. so i think while — what are the conflicts of these drills? we see expanded military access granted by the philippines to the us just a week ago, and also there are reports of talks for potential joint patrols in the south