DFA: US help in China tension not guaranteed

From the Mindanao Times (Sep 14): DFA: US help in China tension not guaranteed

AN OFFICIAL of the Department of Foreign Affairs said there was no clear commitment from the United States to lend help in case tensions at the West Philippine sea escalate into violence.

DFA assistant secretary Charles Jose, in a press conference held Monday at the Philippine Information Agency regional office, said the response of the US in case war breaks out in the South China Sea would always “depend on its national interest.”

Jose said, however, that the US is legally obligated to come to the aid of the Philippines because of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the allied countries.

The official also quoted a statement by U.S. president Barack Obama during his state visit in April 2014 that the “commitment to the treaty obligations is iron-clad.”

Jose said the current negotiations at the Asean level is still aimed at the reduction of tensions in the region, which is being claimed by nations such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, aside from both Philippines and China.

“In the end, we have no one else to rely on but ourselves,” Jose said.

The DFA official also commended the marines stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre, which has been scuttled at the Ayungin shoal.

“They are truly courageous,” Jose said, and vowed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines would continuously supply the troops which is at the frontline of the tension with hostile China, which has been insisting on its implementation of an arbitrary nine-dash line.

The said line crosses several exclusive economic zones in the Asean in the process, to which the Philippines has lodged diplomatic protests with international tribunals. Jose added that the Philippines was already losing 80% of its EEZ from the area alone.

http://mindanaotimes.net/dfa-us-help-in-china-tension-not-guaranteed/