RP runs to US for help vs China

BUT UNCLE SAM WON’T TAKE SIDES

RP runs to US for help vs China

By Michaela P. del Callar

The Aquino government, through its foreign and defense secretaries, sought the help of the United States government on the standoff with China on the issue of Scarborough Shoal, directly asking their American counterparts to provide the Philippines with a “minimum credible defense” against the escalating territorial dispute with China, with appeals for a stronger military assistance.

But the United States said it would not take sides in the tense standoff between the Philippines and China at a disputed South China Sea shoal but renewed its commitment to honor a defense treaty that binds Washington to back Manila militarily if it comes under attack.

The foreign and defense chiefs of the longtime allies held their first summit in Washington on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) and agreed to intensify military collaboration, including strengthening the Philippines’ maritime forces amid a dangerous three-week impasse between Chinese and Filipino ships at the Scarborough Shoal.

Economic cooperation was also high in the agenda of the historic meeting at the State Department which was capped by public statements of the four leaders, led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, that carried veiled but blunt warnings against China’s perceived aggression in the disputed South China Sea.

“The United States reaffirms our commitment and obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Clinton told a joint press conference with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, del Rosario and Defense Chief Voltaire Gazmin.

“While we do not take sides on the competing sovereignty claims to land features in the South China Sea, as a Pacific power we have a national interest in freedom of navigation, the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, and the unimpeded, lawful commerce across our sea lanes,” Clinton said.

“We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its claims,” Clinton said. “And we will remain in close contact with our ally, the Philippines.”

She reiterated that America backs Manila’s position that the disputes must be resolved “within the framework of international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” a 1982 accord that gives maritime nations the right to exercise sovereignty within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Such US position starkly contrasts with that of China, which had long opposed the involvement of foreign countries, especially Washington, in the dispute and prefers to negotiate one on one with other South East Asia claimant countries. Beijing has warned Washington to keep out of the territorial disputes.

Describing the Philippines as America’s “friend and treaty ally,” Clinton said Washington would honor its obligations under the 60-year-old mutual defense pact with Manila, which Philippine and US officials have said included any attack on the Philippines in the Pacific and the South China Sea.

The Philippines, lamenting the poor state of its armed forces, appealed Monday for US and international help in building a “minimum credible defense” amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.

Del Rosario and Gazmin made the pitch in unprecedented joint talks in Washington with their US counterparts Clinton and Leon Panetta.

Del Rosario lamented how the international news media has accurately described the poor state of the Philippine armed forces.

“It sounds terribly painful for the Philippines, but more painful is the fact that this is true, and we only have ourselves to blame for it,” Del Rosario said candidly as Clinton and Panetta listened across a table.

“For the Philippines to be minimally relied upon as a US regional partner... it therefore behooves us to resort to all possible means to build at the very least a most minimal credible defense posture,” Del Rosario said.

“On our own, we will do the best we can,” the top Philippine diplomat said.

“Developing a minimum credible defense posture may however be hastened mainly through an enhancement of the activities we do together with our singular treaty and through a positive consideration of increased assistance that we seek at this time as well,” he said.

The two nations, which completed extensive war games earlier this month, are bound by a mutual defense treaty in which the United States has pledged to come to the aid of its weaker ally if it faces military aggression.

“We are concurrently seeking a higher level of assistance from other international partners,” del Rosario added.

Gazmin alluded to tension with China over islands in the South China Sea as he called for the need to “intensify our mutual trust to uphold maritime security and the freedom of navigation.”

“We should be able to work together to build the Philippines minimum credible defense posture, especially in upholding maritime security,” Gazmin said.

The Philippines has called for arbitration through the United Nations to end the dispute, but China has refused.

In a press conference after the talks, the Philippine officials stressed diplomacy when asked what aid they had sought from Washington to bolster Manila’s ability to patrol its waters and deter what they call intrusions.

“The assistance we have sought is to help us bring the case to international legal bodies so that the approach is the legal rules-based approach in resolving the issue in the South China Sea,” Gazmin said.

Clinton, the US secretary of state, told reporters that the first meeting of the two countries’ four key national security officials is “a testament to our shared commitment to write a new chapter” in their partnership.

Tensions between the Philippines and China flared starting on April 10 when Manila accused Chinese fishermen of intruding and poaching at Scarborough, which it claims fall within its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ. Two Chinese government ships, however prevented a Philippine navy ship from arresting the Chinese fishermen.

The shoal, a ring-shaped coral reef with rocky outcrops encircling a lagoon, is known to the Philippines as Panatag or Bajo de Masinloc. It lies 124 nautical miles from Zambales province and 472 nautical miles from China’s nearest landmass of Hainan province.

The South China Sea is home to more than 200 islands, rocks, reefs and coral outcrops. Competing claims to the sea, a strategic waterway believed to be sitting atop huge gas and oil deposits, by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have sparked occasional violence and now regarded as a potential regional flashpoint for armed conflict.

China, which virtually claims the entire sea, rejected Manila’s claim, saying the shoal had always belonged to China on the basis of historical entitlement.

Manila is no match to Beijing’s military but the US assured of “building the Philippines’ maritime security presence and capabilities.” It said it will transfer a second Hamilton-class coast guard cutter to the Philippines to guard its territorial waters, including in areas near and within the South China Sea.

“The focal points of our consultations were how best to keep our alliance relevant and responsive to each other’s needs,” Del Rosario said, adding both sides have committed “to jointly explore modalities” so that the Philippines could “build a minimum credible defense posture.”

Manila and Washington, he said, have also “agreed to prioritize high-value and high-impact joint military exercises and training to meet our common objectives, including maritime security.”

Clinton said the US supports a diplomatic solution in resolving conflicts in the South China Sea, but warned against the use of force by any country to advance it claims.

The US is not a claimant to the South China Sea but has declared that it is in its national interest to ensure that the conflicts are resolved peacefully.

US interests in South East Asia have been reawakened in the midst of a rising China. Washington has made a come-back in the region under the Obama administration and sought closer engagement with its once ignored allies, like the Philippines.

A joint statement said US and Philippine “military forces should be prepared to respond in a timely and effective way to the range of contingencies that may arise in our region.”

The two sides also agreed to “ensure that our collective defense capabilities and communications infrastructure are operationally and materially capable of countering the full spectrum of traditional and non-traditional threats.”

While expressing hopes the country would not need to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States to resolve the dispute in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of National Defense (DND) yesterday welcomed as “very positive” the US reaffirmed commitment to honor the MDT.

“The outcome of the discussion was very positive. We have cleared the question, that is what we want to stress that our alliance will be really effective, that they will honor the Mutual Defense Treaty,” said DND spokesman Peter Paul Galvez.

However, Galvez maintained that nobody is hoping that the Panatag Shoal dispute would lead the Philippines tapping the MDT to resolve the issue with China.

“It’s should be put into right perspective. The issue is territorial issue, it’s still on the diplomatic table and we don’t want this reaching to the point that we will seek for the MDT,” said Galvez.

With Mario J. Mallari and AFP