Running to America again

Editorial

There went the Aquino government, running again to the United States and appealing for help to build a “minimum credible defense” amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.

Credible defense against giant China? There can never be any build up of credible defense on the Philippine side mainly because even if the country stacks up on military warfare, we can’t ever beat China and its military might, since China has been well-equipped militarily, land, sea and air for decades.

What then are Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin really asking from Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta in their talks in Washington?

Surely they know that even military surplus from the US government isn’t that easy to get — without the US getting something in return — and generally, the US takes more from the country than what it gives it.

But the two Noynoy secretaries tried the tack of the country being relied upon by the US as a regional partner as if that mattered.

Said Del Rosario: “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.

He added: “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.”

What the Noy government really wants is more military arms assistance as well as a gaurantee that if China does move against the Philippines, America will come running to its side and battle it out with China, which is why Noynoy and his boys are relying on the Mutual Defense Treaty it has with the US.

But that won’t happen, MDT notwithstanding, because the US certainly won’t go to war with China as the US certainly can’t afford yet another giant war.

That claim of Noynoy’s boys about the US relying on the Philippines as a US regional partner is fiction as the US certainly knows that it cannot rely on the Philippines or its government as a strong regional partner, even if the US government equips the Philippines with the state of the art military materiel — if it ever does in a very big way.

The US government knows just how weak the Aquino government is --- much too weak to be relied on militarily or even politically — given the fact that which the US and foreign countries want for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in Mindanao for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for these foreign governments to rape our natural resources for themselves.

They tried it once with Gloria Arroyo, but that Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was deemed unconstitutional. They are trying it again, that’s for sure, but that will be unconstitutional too.

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 trouble with Noynoy and his boys is the fact they had always known they were no match when it comes down to China, yet they went on a confrontational stance against China and made the problem worse.

The disputed islands and shoals problems have always been there for decades, but peace reigned despite a few non-serious skirmishes — until Noynoy entered the picture and started berating China.

But during the joint press conference following the plea for assistance, the two Noynoy officials denied it was military assistance they sought saying that “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.”

But hasn’t the Philippines already brought this up to the international bodies by itself? Why ask for assistance from the US to bring this problem to a legal international body?

That’s really pitiful as we can’t even take the legal steps on our own.