LT. Gen. Terry Robling, commander of the United States Marine Forces Pacific, said the strong military partnership between the US and the Philippines has been a big factor in holding the escalation of territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) against China.
“I believe it is. I think you have sovereign government that has to deal with the issues in the region and, of course, there are many countries that have historical claims on different parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Those are always issues that will come up, that are worked through diplomatic channels and, of course, having a strong defense is one tool our diplomats can use and hopefully the last tool,” Robling said in an interview on Wednesday after the closing ceremony of the 2013 RP-US Exercise Balikatan held in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Exercise Balikatan has been held for the past several years by virtue of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty, which later gave birth to the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that was stiffly opposed by left-leaning groups as another form of US military intervention in the Philippines.
For the first time, China sent a representative to participate in the discussion that focused on humanitarian affairs and disaster-relief operations.
“Very significant,” said Robling on China’s participation, “there is no one country that has domain over that and we need every country in the region to be able to hold together and help countries in need. Certainly, having China for the very first time at least watch how we do tabletop exercises and the things that we talked about, I think we’ll help them be better partners in the future.”
When asked if China shared any of its military and disaster and relief experiences, Robling said: “I don’t believe they did, you know they just observed.”
The Philippines and China are locked horns over the disputed Spratly Islands that is on the WPS. The Philippines claims at least seven islets and two reefs in the disputed area, which is now the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) town in Palawan led by Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon.
Other nation-claimants are Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
Also, Manila and Beijing are disputing ownership over the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, more than 120 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales.
On the issue of North Korea’s threat for nuclear attack, Robling said the US has at least seven defense treaty partners that can deal with the situation.
“You know, the US has seven treaty partners in the world and the Philippines is one of those, five of them in this region. Obviously, a better partnership we have in all things such as events, foreign investment, businesses, tourism, those kinds of things, the better partners we are.
“And this sends a signal to the rest of the countries in the world, and most specifically in the Asia Pacific, that as a coalition we are stronger together,” he said.
Robling said they are now looking into the future of the possibility of conducting multilateral military exercises with partner-countries.
“We will begin that planning next week and we’ll take a look at that. Well, we certainly are looking at other countries like Japan and Australia,” he said.
“I guess this Balikatan is a test of how we can work together shoulder to shoulder and so by way of making sure that our operational readiness in disaster mitigation, by any measure facing any threat or crisis requirements this will allow us to work together against any emergency that we may face, both of our countries may face,” he added.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario had said during the opening of Balikatan that the Philippine government is ready to give greater access to US military forces by virtue of the 1951 treaty.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin has interpreted this that the Philippine government is open for the return of US bases in the country in “extreme situations” only.
Both government officials’ statements drew strong public criticisms that Malacañang quickly said does not necessarily reflect the position of the administration.
In 1991 the Senate refused to ratify the renewal of the RP-US Military Bases Agreement, prompting the closure of US military bases in the country, notably Clark Air Base in Pampanga and Subic Naval Base in Cavite.
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