America urged to boost the Philippines Military Armaments amid Spratlys dispute

The vintage WWII warships and poor armed Philippines stands-up in spite of china’s bully. The country is in trouble to find sources of fund to upgrade their armaments to gain respect from the invading neighbors and were forced to ask help from the Washington through MDT which signed last August 30, 1951.

Recently, the cutter class was turnover by the USA to the Philippines and gains China’s revulsion and warned the Philippines from arm building in the Spratlys – Philippines Territory.

China has already erected structures in the Philippines Territory  the Spratlys which the Philippines government could not push them back as they are equipped with more sophisticated war weapons.

The Philippines indeed is the only rusting bolt that hinder china from controlling all over Asia. Without and Philippines; China would already control all over spratlys and around ASEAN countries. The Philippines serves as the remaining gateway of the ASEAN countries which needs to be strengthen to stand against china’s invasion in the region.

A key official of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, exhorted the United States’ policymakers to “help provide the Philippines the military wherewithal to withstand Peoples’ Republic of China pressure."

Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation, said in a “WebMemo" that the U.S. “may very well find itself in a position where it cares more about the security of the Philippines" than the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The policy commentary comes less than three weeks after the U.S. Coast Guard turned over a Hamilton class warship to the Philippines. The Philippines bought the 115-meter cutter for about P450 million with funds from the Malampaya natural gas project royalties.

Lohman acknowledged ASEAN as “the most logical, neutral forum for regional diplomacy," but he also criticized it as a multilateral grouping that “consistently wins on engagement and loses on substance."

“That is not a formula can trust with its interests," according to Lohman.

Lohman urged U.S. officials to pursue “more direct avenues… which prudent use of ASEAN Forums can supplement."

“America’s principal interest in the South China Sea is freedom of navigation, and its most effective instrument in this regard is the U.S. Navy," Lohman stressed.

He said ASEAN has “deeply ambivalent" stance about China’s ascendance as a regional power and affects the regional group’s effectiveness in addressing conflicting territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Lohman also disparaged the ASEAN’s Bali agreement, forged only last July, as a set of confidence-building measures that produced only “meager results" and conceded to China’s approach to “vociferously" reject multilateral solutions.

“All the 2002 [Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea] agreement did was provide the opportunity to set aside ASEAN’s disagreements with China for the cause of broader, lucrative economic engagement. The July 2011 Bali guidelines simply kick the can down the road again. And for this, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan called it an “historic" achievement," Lohman opined.

He also noted that effectiveness of ASEAN is also affected by the fact that its chairmanship is rotated “through a number of cautious and/or China-deferential countries, such as Cambodia, Brunei, Burma and Laos."

The Heritage Foundation official advised America to “keep its alliance network front and center" and urged U.S. officials to “look for ways to expand bilateral strategic partnerships, with Vietnam and India in particular."

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Washington- the Philippines will celebrate 60th Aniversary MDT - August 30 2011

The United States will send one of its highest military officers and a nuclear-carrier battle group to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its defense pact Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines this August 30, 2011.

Speaking before the Asia Society Thursday evening (August 11, 2011), US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. reiterated the American position that although it will not meddle in territorial disputes in the South China Sea, it is committed to the defense of the Philippines from any invasion from the outside force.

“The United States is a longstanding treaty ally of the Philippines,” he told a largely Filipino-American audience, “We are a strategic partner and we will remain that way.”

The Philippines is one of only two countries in the Southeast Asian region with a defense treaty with the US. The Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) was signed in Washington DC on August 30, 1951.

The MDT was thrust to the forefront because of rising tensions in the Spratly Islands that are claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. 

The Philippines protested China’s harassment of its research ships exploring for oil and gas deposits in the Philippine Territory area in the West Philippines Sea (WPS). China has also built structures that encroach on Philippine territorial waters, officials in Manila charged.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Philippines have been forced to rely on the deterrence of the American security umbrella promised by the MDT.

When Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario conferred with State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington DC last June 2011, he received an assurance the US will help build Philippine military capabilities to defend its borders.

“We don’t take sides in this issue and we expect people to exercise restraint. This is something that should be negotiated on the table in a peaceful manner,” Thomas explained.

When he returns to Manila in the second week of August, Thomas will be followed by Gen. Norton Schwartz, the US Air Force chief. His arrival comes in the heels of the visit of another ranking US military official, Pacific Command chief Admiral Robert Willard, on the last week of July 2011.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John Stennis (CVN-74) and her escort flotilla are scheduled to arrive in Manila on the last week of August, after leaving her home port in Washington state last July 25.

She rendezvoused with the rest of Carrier Strike Group-3 that is composed of the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay and ships under Destroyer Squadron 21 that includes the USS Pinckney, USS Kidd, USS Dewey and USS Wayne Meyer that left San Diego last July 29 2011.

After their Philippine stop, the battle group will take up station to support US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 1,000-foot John Stennis has a crew of 5,000 officers and men and has 4 strike fighter squadrons, 2 combat helicopter squadrons and the 2 other squadrons for electronic warfare and airborne early warning.

“This shows our commitment to the Philippines,” Thomas stressed.

Amid fears that China could fill a perceived power vacuum in the South China Sea, the American envoy insisted that the US will continue to have a military presence in the region as he revealed that American warships make about a hundred port visits in the Philippines every year.

As the US gets ready to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the American envoy said, “We are very confident in the ability of the Philippine government to align with us to combat terrorism.”

He noted recent battlefield setbacks for the Philippine military pursuing the Abu Sayyaf. “The Philippine military has taken a few tough weeks and they’ve had to sacrifice,” Thomas noted, adding that “their families are crying out for justice.”

Thomas pointed out that top Al-qaeda leaders Ramzey Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed hatched a terror plot called Bojinka that is widely seen as the precursor to the use of jetliners in the 9-11 attacks, in Pasay City just a few kilometers from the US Embassy in Manila.

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