New security pact up with Obama visit

From the Manila Bulletin (Apr 21): New security pact up with Obama visit

US Support For PH Territorial Claims Of ‘Paramount Importance’

Finalizing a new security pact, investment, and trade agreements, and financing of quality infrastructure projects across the country–these should be on top of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s “wish list” when he meets with United States President Barack Obama during the latter’s visit to the Philippines next week.

According to Prof. Richard Heydarian of the Ateneo de Manila’s Political Science department, the most important concern of the Aquino administration should be about negotiating the Framework Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation and Rotational Presence with Washington “which will ensure a robust American commitment to come to the Philippines’ rescue in the event of conflict in the West Philippine Sea.”

“Given the heightened tensions over our decision to file the memorial at ITLOS (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea), sustained and unequivocal American support for our territorial claims is of paramount importance,” Heydarian told the Manila Bulletin yesterday.

After nearly eight months of negotiations that saw both parties facing an impasse over certain salient features, the Philippines and the US finally found consensus on key points of a draft enhanced defense cooperation agreement last April 11, thus ending eight rounds of talks.

“It is also necessary for the Philippines to explore varying arrangements to enhance our access to advanced military hardware to expedite our military modernization program and establish a credible minimum deterrence capacity,” added Heydarian. “This could come in the form of expanded US military aid and new defense acquisitions.”

Likewise, the Ateneo professor said Aquino should push for new investment and trade agreements which will expedite the inflow of large-scale American investments and open up new markets for Philippine exports, especially in the realm of agriculture and high-end services.
“Given the continued lack of inclusive growth in the country, Aquino should push the US to invest in our manufacturing sector which is crucial to generating quality, large-scale employment,” said Heydarian.

Investments in infrastructure should also be on top of the discussion of the two leaders when they meet next Monday.

“Given our relatively weak infrastructure, which has hampered our development and undermined the resilience of our communities to climate change, there should also be sustained discussion on US investments in and financing of quality infrastructure projects across the country, especially as the Aquino administration aims to ramp up infrastructure spending in the next two years and reconstruct areas devastated by super typhoon Yolanda,” said Heydarian.

Reviewing COMET

President Obama will be viewing the new electric version of the jeepney that is being supported by a technology maker in the US during his visit in the Philippines next week.

According to Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, Obama will begin his second day in Manila on Tuesday, April 29, by personally reviewing the progress of the COMET (City Optimized Managed Electric Transport).

“Those of you who have may have spent time in Manila know that this is one of the principal means of people getting around,” said Rhodes during a press briefing at the White House over the weekend.

US-based Pangea Motors, LLC has teamed up with local investors to create an international partnership called Global Electric Transportation with a Philippine franchise named GET Philippines Inc. for the supply and distribution of COMET.

Pangea said that unlike its competitors, its vehicles are designed to be fully electric from the beginning instead of modifying gas vehicles or golf carts.

The vehicle uses lithium iron phosphate batteries that are enclosed in a watertight casing and consists of less than 300 parts instead of the usual 4,000 parts of a typical diesel-run engine, which translates to cost-efficient manufacturing and minimal maintenance, Pangea said.

The COMET can comfortably seat 16 passengers with a height clearance of over six feet. It also charges on a 220-V outlet with its charging system built into the vehicle requiring only a four-hour charge time, and has a range of 80 to 100 kilometers on a full charge.

Rhodes said upon his arrival in the Philippines on Monday, April 28, Obama will have a bilateral program with Aquino and a joint press conference.

On Monday night, Obama will attend a state dinner hosted by Aquino.
Obama is also scheduled to go Fort Bonifacio, where he will give remarks to an audience that will include US and Filipino service members and veterans.

Obama is scheduled to return to the US on April 29.

Prior to his visit to Manila, Obama will first travel to Tokyo on April 23 where he will have a private dinner with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The next morning, President Obama will have a farewell greet with the Emperor of Japan after which he will leave for South Korea.

After Seoul, Obama will visit Malaysia, the first by a US President since Lyndon Johnson.

Miriam’s Warning

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday warned the Aquino government against rushing the signing of the US-Philippine agreement for enhanced defense cooperation (EDC) and presenting this as a “welcome gift” to President Obama when he visits the country later this month.

Santiago, hailed as a constitutional and foreign relation expert, said the government should keep in mind that national interest must be upheld instead of being subservient to the United States’ interests.

“Should affairs of state be considered pasalubong (welcome gift)? What are we? This is a very important matter! We should stop our superstitious mentality that we must always show foreign visitors our hospitality. This is nothing of that sort. This is of a different level. Let’s put it in context,” said Santiago in Filipino and English over a DZBB radio interview.

Accord Before Visit

A House leader is calling on the Philippine government to ink the Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC) with Washington even beforePresident Obama arrives in the Philippines on April 28.

The lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be better for the government to immediately sign the security deal with Washington or else the country might face a “political backlash.”

“The FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) upgrade has something to do with the visit of the US President. It was a political decision on their part. And now it is our turn to make such political decision by signing the AEDC even before Obama arrives,” the pro-AEDC lawmaker said in an interview.

In a separate interview, House Deputy Majority Leader and Citizens Battle against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna said with the impending AEDC signing between Manila and Washington, China would now think twice before bullying small countries.

“For me, the AEDC will help in putting pressure to China because of potential military assistance to our country,” he stressed.

MAGDALO party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo said the Chinese government should not interpret the Philippines’ signing of AEDC as an act of provocation.

“This is a sovereign act of a sovereign country to further its foreign policy,” he said.

He said since AEDC is not a treaty, there is no need for the Executive to consult the Congress on the matter.

For his part, Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. said it is up to President Aquino if the AEDC would be signed on or before Obama’s visit.
“It is their call really. Foreign policy is the President’s call,” he said.

Territorial Tensions

As President Obama travels through Asia this coming week, he will confront a region that’s warily watching the crisis in Ukraine through the prism of its own territorial tensions with China.

Each of the four countries on Obama’s itinerary — Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines — has a dispute with Beijing over islands and waters in the South and East China Seas. Their leaders will be weighing Obama’s willingness to support them if those conflicts boil over.

“What we can say after seeing what happened to Ukraine is that using force to change the status quo is not acceptable,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country is in one of the fiercest disputes with China.

Administration officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, have taken a tougher line on the territorial issues in recent weeks, sternly warning China against the use of military force and noting that the US has treaty obligations to defend Japan in particular. But in an attempt to maintain good relations with China, the US has not formally taken sides on the question of which countries should control which islands.

Analysts say there are concerns that China could be emboldened by the relative ease with which Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine over US objections, as well as the very real possibility that Moscow could take more land. Moreover, some in Asia question Obama’s ability to follow through on his security pledges in light of his decision last summer to pull back on plans for a military strike against Syria.

“The heavyweights in the region got very scared by the Syrian decision,” said Douglas Paal, a longtime US diplomat in Asia who now is vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “They’ve never seen anything like that. They’ve always counted on strong executives bringing the Congress along or going around the Congress to make sure that our security guarantees will be honored.”

Obama’s advisers say they see little evidence thus far that China has been encouraged by Russia’s incursions into Ukraine. Instead, they say Beijing appears to be viewing with concern the Kremlin’s attempts to sway pro-Russian populations in areas of Ukraine, given China’s own restive minority populations in border regions.

US officials also have tried to keep China from supporting Russia’s moves in Ukraine by appealing to Beijing’s well-known and vehement opposition to outside intervention in other nations’ domestic affairs. Officials say they plan to emphasize that stance when they discuss Asia’s territorial disputes with regional leaders this week.

“We have been talking with them about the importance of a strong international front to uphold principles that they and we all hold dear, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, the need for peaceful resolution of disputes,” said Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser.
“And we will continue to have that discussion throughout each of the stops on our trip.”

Obama’s eight-day Asia swing is a makeup for a visit he canceled last fall because of the US government shutdown. Leaving Washington on Tuesday, he will stop briefly in Oso, Washington state, where mudslides killed dozens of people. He will arrive Wednesday in Japan.

Obama’s advisers say there are no plans to scrap the trip if the situation in Ukraine worsens. But the president may have to make decisions while traveling about imposing more penalties against Russia if a deal to ease the crisis collapses.

The US, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union signed an agreement Thursday. But already, the prospects of it holding appear slim, with pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine refusing to leave the government buildings they occupy in nearly a dozen cities.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday said it would offer strong help to Ukraine, but that responsibility for reducing tensions rested with Ukrainians, not outsiders.

Compared with Russia’s actions in Ukraine, China has been relatively restrained in its territorial ambitions. But tensions spiked last fall when Beijing declared an air defense zone over a large part of the East China Sea, including the disputed islands controlled by Japan and a maritime rock claimed by both China and South Korea. China’s coast guard also has blocked Filipino ships in the South China Sea in recent weeks.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea. Nansha is the Chinese name for the Spratlys, a chain of resource-rich islands, islets and reefs claimed partly or wholly by China, the Philippines, Malaysia and other southeast Asian nations.

Former Philippine national security adviser Roilo Golez said he expects Beijing to avoid Russian-style moves on any of the disputed territories, in large part because China is surrounded by American allies from the East China Sea to the Strait of Malacca and may have to deal with the US military in the region if it undertakes a major act of aggression.

“It would be a folly on the part of China to do anything drastic, to do a Crimea,” Golez said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/new-security-pact-up-with-obama-visit/