US-Philippines flex collective
muscle By Al Labita
MANILA - From waging a joint bloody war
against Islamic terrorists, the United States and
Philippines now find themselves shifting to
another battle front: checking China's
provocations on the high seas.
In what
could be a prelude to an imminent face-off with
China, American and Filipino naval forces will
launch "war games" on June 28-July 8 off the coast
of Palawan province, west of Manila, near the
hotly contested and potentially oil and gas rich
Spratly islands in the South China Sea.
The US will deploy three warships - USS
Chung-Hoon, USS Howard and USNS
Safeguard, while the Philippines will pitch in
four US-made battleships. They will be backed by
hundreds of
combat-ready American and
Filipino marines.
The joint military
maneuvers, part of the US-Philippine military
alliance, come amid reports that China will test
next week its first-ever Russian-designed aircraft
carrier prior to its formal mobilization later
this year.
China, seen by many Filipinos
as an emerging neighborhood bully, had earlier
sent its biggest maritime vessel to the Spratlys
in what critics here described as "gunboat
diplomacy" to assert its "historic" claims to the
island chain following a verbal spat with rival
claimants, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In
reaction, the Philippines sent its biggest, oldest
and lone warship, the US-made RP Rajah
Humabon, to patrol the country's 250-nautical
miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which Manila
now refers to as the "West Philippine Sea".
"If they attack us, we will fight back,"
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief
General Eduardo Oban said, referring to repeated
Chinese intrusions into the Philippines-claimed
portion of the Spratlys. AFP troops have in
retaliation dismantled markers and buoys bearing
Chinese characters planted by Beijing within the
Philippines' claimed EEZ.
The AFP has
recorded at least seven incidents of Chinese
incursions into its claimed Spratly Island areas
since February, prompting Manila to lodge
diplomatic protests with Beijing. The government
has announced plans to elevate soon its complaints
to the United Nations.
On March 2, Chinese
ships harassed a Philippine vessel exploring oil
in the Reed Bank located 80 miles (129 kilometers)
off Palawan and within the Philippines' EEZ, but
576 miles (927 kilometers) from China. "Why should
there be a dispute if we are conforming to
international law?," Philippine president Benigno
Aquino told a news briefing about the incident.
Manila's mild saber rattling followed
Washington's assurance that it would honor its
mutual defense treaty, which both countries signed
in 1951. The treaty mandates both sides to aid
each other in case of external attacks.
"The Philippines and the United States are
strategic treaty allies. We are partners. We will
continue to consult and work with each other on
all issues, including the South China Sea and
Spratly islands," US ambassador to the Philippines
Harry Thomas recently said.
The treaty
will be reviewed during a top-level meeting of US
and Philippine defense and military officials in
August this year in Hawaii. Atop the agenda will
be China's perceived as belligerent moves to press
its claims to the Spratlys and how the US and its
allies will in future respond.
Also
expected to be discussed at the Hawaii meeting
will be US access to its former Philippines-based
military bases at Subic and Clark which the US
abandoned in 2001 after Manila refused to renew a
lease deal with Washington.
Now economic
zones, Subic and Clark boast US-built ports and
airports which could be of strategic importance
both amid mounting tensions with China over the
Spratly Islands and Washington's wider aim to
contain China's strategic rise.
Though
Manila remains hopeful the territorial row with
China can be solved through diplomacy, it's not
taking chances either. President Benigno Aquino's
government has recently stepped up its acquisition
of armaments under the US foreign military sales
program, in what could be seen as a sign of an
impending arms race among Spratly claimants.
In August this year, the US Coast Guard
will deliver to Manila a large and modern
Hamilton-class cutter patrol craft to boost the
Philippine Navy's maritime patrols. The vessel,
which boasts a wide array of state-of-the art
interdiction capabilities, forms part of the US
commitment to help modernize the 125,000-strong
AFP, which has lagged behind its Asian
counterparts in terms of equipment.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del
Rosario is this week in Washington on invitation
of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lobby
for more American vessels and equipment to beef up
the AFP's external defense posture.
Other
items on del Rosario's shopping list reportedly
include frigates, fighter jets, patrol helicopters
with sensors, search-and-rescue vessels, transport
aircraft and strategic sea-lift ships.
Aquino earlier warned visiting Chinese
defense minister Liang Guanglie of a possible arms
race should tensions over the conflicting Spratlys
claims worsen. He noted that while the AFP is
currently ill-equipped to match China's military
might, this could force Manila's hand to beef up
its armaments, given China's repeated intrusions
into the Philippine-claimed portions of the
Spratlys.
"We may not have the
capabilities now, but that might force us to
increase our capabilities also," he said.
In turn, Liang assured Aquino that China
wanted to resolve the Spratlys dispute through
peaceful and diplomatic means. In their talks,
Aquino and Liang pledged to avoid any "unilateral
actions" that could inflame tensions over rival
claims.
Stronger strategic ties with the
US carries certain political risks for Aquino, who
earlier carefully balanced his policy between
China and the US. As expected, leftist groups have
already assailed US involvement in Manila's
diplomatic spat with Beijing over the Spratlys.
"The US game plan is clear. Washington
will scare its puppet government in Manila about
the possible outbreak of war between China and the
Philippines and other Spratlys
claimant-countries," militant leftist leader
Salvador France said.
In a statement, he
criticized Aquino for "playing the role of mascot
under the US game plan." he claimed. "The best way
to resolve the Spratlys issue is to first get the
US government out of the picture, engage in
diplomatic discourse with China and other
claimants and junk Washington's best buy offer of
its excess war gears," France said.
Another prominent leftist, Renato Reyes
Jr, criticized the Aquino government's purchase of
second-hand US armaments, claiming the deal was
tied to quid pro quo considerations, including
maintenance of the controversial US-Philippines
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The VFA allows US
troops to hold military exercises on Philippine
soil.
"The irony here is that after five
decades of being promised by the US that the AFP
will be modernized under the VFA, here is the
Philippine government still trying to acquire
second-hand equipment from the US - proof that our
dependence on the US has brought us nowhere," says
Reyes, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (New Nationalists Alliance).
Al Labita is a Manila-based
journalist.
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