Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr presided over a joint military exercise to sink a ship in the South China Sea, in the clearest signal of his determination to revive his country’s military alliance with the US and repel Chinese encroachment in the disputed waters.

The rare manoeuvre, and its supervision for the first time by a Philippine president, was the highest-profile event of the allies’ largest joint annual drills in more than 30 years. It comes as China’s coast guard has stepped up harassment of Philippine ships around territory controlled by Manila in the South China Sea in recent months.

The combined forces turned a barrage of fire on the vessel, a former second world war US corvette decommissioned by the Philippine navy two years ago, starting with Himars, the powerful mobile rocket launchers that have helped Ukraine counter Russian attacks. This salvo was followed by shore- and ship- based guns and helicopter attacks and missiles from F-16 and F-35 fighters, which finally sank the ship.