How STRONG the PHILIPPINE MILITARY | Enough to Counter China's Aggression in WPS?

Premiered Sep 26, 2023
PHILIPPINES GLOBAL MILITARY RANKING
The Philippines climbed 19 places to land at the 32nd spot, out of 145 countries in the 2023 edition of Global Firepower’s Military Strength Ranking. Considered a middle power, with gains in military capability, the Philippines ranks 16th in Asia and 5th among the ASEAN 6.
The Philippines’ strongest measure is defense networks, outpacing its regional peers, where it places ninth, reflecting the extent of its bilateral military cooperation with treaty allies with the United States. The score for defense networks is measured by a country’s regional alliances, global defense partnerships, and regional defense diplomacy.
Meanwhile, its military capacity also improved by two places, ranking to 17th place. The country inched up its future resources score or the measurement for its projected distribution of future economic, military, and demographic resources.
The Philippines also exerts more influence in the region than expected given its available resources, as indicated by the country’s positive power gap score.
Regarding the arms trade, the institute reported that South Korea is the Philippines’ most significant arms trade partner with deals worth around $692 million. The US comes in second with $384 million, followed by Indonesia with $180 million, Australia with $16 million, and trading numbers with Japan with a total of $6 million.
The Asia Power Index also reported the Philippines posted gains in diplomatic influence, which refers to a country’s diplomatic network, multilateral power, and foreign policy thrust.
In addition, the countries hold high-level bilateral, and plurilateral defense diplomacy meetings, including the US, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
The increase in the Philippines’ overall military strength is due to its modernization efforts. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is currently undertaking a modernization program, with countries such as France, Israel, and India, offering to give new technology to the country.