DFA chief: US sending military equipment to help PH monitor territory

From the Manila Times (Apr 15): DFA chief: US sending military equipment to help PH monitor territory

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Wednesday revealed that the United States is sending air force and naval equipment to the Philippines to help the military monitor incursions in the country’s territory.

Speaking on ABS-CBN News Channel, Del Rosario said the equipment would be manned by US personnel . He did not reveal what kind of military equipment the US is planning to send over.

US Defense Secretary  Ashton Carter last week said the US would deploy its “best weapons” in Asia to counter the threat posed by China specifically in the South and East China Seas.

US President Barack Obama, speaking in a town hall meeting in Jamaica last week, also expressed concern over China’s provocative actions in the disputed areas, saying small countries like the Philippines and Vietnam should not be “elbowed aside”.

The developments followed the publication last week of aerial surveillance pictures of China’s massive land reclamation in areas within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.

Del Rosario said Manila sees China’s action as its way of defining its 9-dash line claim which Manila disputed before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He added the DFA has protested all of China’s reclamation activities through diplomatic channels.

“We have appealed to them to stop what they’re doing,” he said.

Asked by program host Karen Davila if the Philippines can “technically” do anything to stop what China is doing, Del Rosario said, “We’re looking at our options now. I’m not prepared to discuss that.”

Earlier, Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Gregorio Catapang discounted any military action on the issue, saying it’s not wise to escalate the tension already prevailing in the disputed areas. He said however, that Filipino troops stationed in areas that remain under Philippine control to stand their ground.

Del Rosario said they expect the ITLOS to hand down its ruling on the arbitration case in early 2016.

China refused to participate in the process, insisting that the issue is not within the jurisdiction of ITLOS as Beijing remained firm that the territorial dispute should be addressed bilaterally.

Del Rosario however, revealed that they opted to involve the United Nations and the international community in the issue as dealing with China on a bilateral basis was futile.

He said in the case of the Scarborough Shoal which China isolated in 2013, Filipino diplomats sat down 50 times with their Beijing counterparts in an attempt to resolve the issue.

“Each time we sit down with them, they always invoke that their sovereignty over South China Sea is indisputable,” he said.

Manila however, continued to push for a diplomatic solution.

“We chose arbitration because we wanted to preserve our valuable friendship with China,” he said.

Sophisticated weaponry

Carter, who was in Japan last week to finalize its new defense cooperation guidelines with Tokyo, said the US is taking  “a strong stance against the militarisation of these disputes.”

Interviewed by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Carter said China’s land reclamations “seriously increase tensions and reduce the prospects for diplomatic solutions.” He then called on Beijing to “limit its activities and exercise restraint.”

Before leaving for Japan, Carter delivered a speech in Arizona reaffirming the US commitment to the “pivot” or “rebalance” to the Indo-Pacific region.

“The ‘pivot’ is a comprehensive diplomatic, economic and military strategy targeting China and aimed at ensuring the continued dominance of American imperialism in the world’s fastest growing economic region,” an article quoting Carter’s speech and posted on the New World Socialist Website read.

In his speech, Carter likewise revealed the extensive build-up and restructuring of US military forces in the Asia-Pacific that he said are geared to a war with China.

New military hardware is being developed, specifically tailored to the Pentagon’s AirSea Battle war plan, which envisages a massive air and missile assault on mainland China from US bases and naval assets in the western Pacific. In addition to “a new, long-range stealth bomber and a new, long-range anti-ship cruise missile,”

Carter said that the US was working on “new weapons like a rail gun” using electromagnetic forces, and “new space, electronic warfare and other advanced capabilities, including some surprising ones.”

* The Pentagon has already dispatched some of its most sophisticated weapons systems to Asia, including the latest Virginia class nuclear submarine and P-8 surveillance aircraft, as well as fighter aircraft and bombers.

“We will continue to push our most advanced weaponry to the Pacific, including, for example, our newest stealth destroyer, the Zumwalt,” Carter said.

The US is comprehensively redistributing its military forces throughout the region, including new basing arrangements with Australia, Singapore and the Philippines.

In North East Asia, the Pentagon is restructuring its bases in Japan, especially on Okinawa, and South Korea and transforming Guam into a “strategic hub” for the region.
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In Japan, Korea and Guam,” Carter boasted, “we are in the middle of four of the largest military construction projects since the end of the Cold War.”

The US is “constantly refreshing our alliances” in the region. Carter emphasised that this involved “establishing brand new partnerships” and maintaining “an increased tempo of training and exercises.”

As he spoke, the annual US-South Korean war games were underway.

The US and the Philippines are also about to begin their annual Balikatan military exercises, which have doubled in size from last year and also include Australian military personnel.

http://www.manilatimes.net/breaking_news/dfa-chief-us-sending-military-equipment-to-help-ph-monitor-territory/