US may consider deploying Marines to BRP Sierra Madre if China prevents Philippines resupply

From Ang Malaya (Jul 25): US may consider deploying Marines to BRP Sierra Madre if China prevents Philippines resupply

Senior Advisor and Senior Director of Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) Dr. Patrick M. Cronin enumerated ten essential elements of a U.S. foreign policy to deal with the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) during a hearing of United State House Committee on Foreign Affairs-Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific regarding America’s Security Role in the South China Sea July 23, 2015.

One of ten elements Cronin recommended American lawmakers is US “should enumerate a menu of potential cost-imposition policy options that transcend reputational and legal costs and make clear that bad behavior will incur a price.”

“If China tries to prevent the resupply of the grounded Philippine naval vessel BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, then the United States might not only offer to resupply it, but could also consider deploying a few Marines on rotation as part of the crew’s training detachment,” he said.

Cronin also included in his ten essential elements of US policy in dealing with West Philippine Sea the following: United States should regularly underscore our enduring principles; reinvest in our own long-term economic power; deepen diplomatic and practical support for ASEAN; build a maritime coalition ensuring the issue as top tier of regional diplomacy; maintain a constant presence; support an overlapping regional transparency regime; build national and multinational defensive and deterrent capacity; and seek to clarify types of behavior that would be objectionable.

http://www.angmalaya.net/nation/2015/07/25/12327-us-may-consider-deploying-marines-to-brp-sierra-madre-if-china-prevents-philippines-resupply