MANILA: Thousands of US and Filipino marines launched 10 days of joint exercises in the northern and western Philippines on Tuesday (Oct 15), a day after China held huge drills around Taiwan . The annual Kamandag, or Venom, exercises are focused on defending the north coast of the Philippine main island of Luzon, which lies about 800km from self-ruled Taiwan. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed it will never rule out using force to take it, calling Monday's drills a "