The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launched their largest combat exercises in decades that will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China. The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan-Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and against Taiwan. The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan.           </span><br />