Military commanders from 23 like-minded nations converged for the Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium (PALS) in the Philippines in mid-July 2025 to enhance regional security and ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
The Philippine Marine Corps and the United States Marine Corps, Pacific hosted the 11th iteration of the event in Manila, attracting naval infantry, coast guard and other maritime defense force leaders from Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and North and South America. The theme was “Stronger together.”
“We state those words often, but they’re more than just a tagline. They are the truth,” said U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force.
“No one nation can do this alone,” said Australian Army Maj. Gen. Ash Collingburn, commander of 1st Australian Division.
Other participants included Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the United Kingdom.
“It is incumbent upon your defense leaders and your heads of state to build as much possible mass in like-minded partnerships, building trust and confidence, and with collective action, collective purpose and collective resolve,” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. told the delegates. “We then deter any unilateral attempt to reshape the world order into a less free one and a less participative one where rights of people are sacrificed.”
Presentations and panel discussions focused on innovation, the information environment, maritime enforcement, humanitarian aid and disaster response, and amphibious force versatility.
“It’s really important to be here with like-minded nations, having the conversations about how we can work together. It’s not just about interoperability, it’s about understanding each other and what we can achieve,” Maj. Gen. Robert Krushka, commander of Joint Forces New Zealand, told FORUM.
Krushka and Teodoro discussed expanding military cooperation, according to the Philippine News Agency. New Zealand and the Philippines signed a status of visiting forces agreement in April 2025 that provides a framework for the nations’ personnel to train jointly in each country. The Philippines also recently signed new or expanded defense cooperation agreements with Germany, Japan and Lithuania.
The Philippines hosted PALS for the first time. The symposium came amid China’s continuing illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive tactics in the South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite the Philippines’ successful pursuit of an international tribunal case that invalidated China’s arbitrary and expansive claims in 2016. China has ignored the ruling, and its gray-zone tactics include harassing Philippine Coast Guard and civilian vessels lawfully operating in Manila’s internationally recognized waters.
“Beijing’s expansive claims directly infringe on the sovereign rights and jurisdictions of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, and undermine peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a July 12, 2025, statement marking the ninth anniversary of the tribunal’s ruling.
“The United States calls on China to abide by the 2016 arbitral ruling and to cease its dangerous and destabilizing conduct,” Rubio said.
Teodoro said the three-day symposium’s main goal “is our leaders of amphibious forces are getting together, talking with each other, developing trust, building confidence, sharing experiences, reaching out not only to our traditional allies or like-minded partners but to smaller countries.”
PALS “is a show of unity among like-minded nations to get together for a common value and that is to promote a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” said Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The symposium began a day after the Philippine Army and U.S. Army Pacific concluded Exercise Salaknib. PALS ran simultaneously with the Cope Thunder exercise between the longtime allies’ air forces. Two months earlier, the Philippines hosted the 40th iteration of exercise Balikatan, which drew 14,000 personnel from Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the U.S.
“Deterrence is a team sport,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Steve Koehler, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet and the PALS keynote speaker. “Balikatan was once a bilateral Philippine-U.S. exercise. To meet the needs of the time, it is now multinational, with a growing range of Allies and Partners — like many of the key exercises in the region.”
The Philippines-hosted PALS “reflects our growing leadership role in regional security,” Maj. Gen. Vicente Blanco III, commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps, told FORUM. “It’s also a chance to show the world what the Philippine Marine Corps is capable of, not just in terms of training and operations, but also in diplomacy and regional cooperation. It’s our way of saying the Philippines is ready to be a dependable partner in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
