USA - Philippines military will meet in Hawaii to discuss the 'mutual security concerns' involving Spratlys

Series of important meetings between the United States and the Philippines are set in various schedules this month. Invigorating the 60 year old Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States of America which about to celebrate this August 30, 2011 which USA powerful warships are on the way to the Philippines to be part of the 60^th year MDT celebration.

Meanwhile, top Philippines military officials will meet with US Pacific Command chief Adm. Roberto Willard in Hawaii on Tuesday August 17, 2011 (Manila time) to discuss “mutual security concerns," but there is no assurance that the dispute over the Spratlys Islands would be tackled.

Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, public affairs office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the meeting “is an affirmation of the long-standing defense cooperation between the Philippines and the United States."

“It demonstrates that the partnership between the two countries remains robust, dynamic, and beneficial to both parties, and underscores the unrelenting commitment of both countries toward a more secure Asia-Pacific region," said Burgos in a statement Sunday.

The meeting will be held as part of the annual RP-US Mutual Defense Board and RP-US Security Exchange Board, which is co-chaired by Willard and AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Oban.

The Security Engagement Board is responsible for implementing the Mutual Defense Treaty, which the two counties signed in August 30, 1951. It mandates both sides to aid each in case of foreign aggression.

Burgos said the party of Oban, which includes Navy chief Vice Adm. Alexander Pama, Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz and national police chief Director General Raul Bacalzo is due to leave Sunday night for the two-day meeting.

The delegation also includes Air Force inspector general Maj. Gen. Carlix Donila, Marines commandant Maj. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, Army Special Operations Command chief Major General Roberto Morales, Coast Guard commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag, and representatives from the defense and foreign affairs departments.

During the Board meeting, the strategic dialogue will focus on mutual security concerns to demonstrate increased bilateral commitment to the 60-year-old mutual defense alliance of the Philippines and the United States of America..

The two sides will also discuss traditional as well as nontraditional security issues like mutual defense, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cyber security and disaster response, among others.

If the West Philippines Sea (WPS) - South China Sea conflict will be discussed during the meeting, although Oban said in an earlier interview that the issue would be “definitely" tackled in the meeting “because of the recent statements and developments we’ve been hearing and seeing."

The military establishment has reported a number of intrusions by China in Philippine-claimed areas in the Spratly Island over the past months, prompting the Department of Foreign Affairs to file diplomatic protests against Beijing.

The Spratly Islands is a chain of islands and islets that are believed to be rich in oil and mineral depositions. The area is being claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

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New Zealand will support the Philippine position on Spratlys

The United States of America announced that the Washington Power is always on the back to support the Philippines; the same as Japan and Australia and other allies of the Philippines. Recently, the New Zealand expressed their support to the Philippines in the Spratlys disputes.

New Zealand supports the position of the Philippines and other allies that claimants to the Spratly chain of islands must heed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Department of National Defense said Friday.

The New Zealand government also agreed during a recent meeting with Filipino defense officials that the Spratly claimants—the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan—should abide by the code of conduct they had signed in 2002 about settling territorial dispute peacefully, the defense department said in a statement.

The UNCLOS sets a country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ)—an area where it has a right to explore for and exploit natural resources while allowing freedom of navigation and overflight to others— at 200 nautical miles from its coastline.

The Philippines has tussled with China over certain isles and reefs in the vicinity of the Spratly chain that fall within what Manila considers its EEZ as well as Beijing’s  “nine-dash-line” claims over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“Both sides noted that it is necessary for claimant countries to abide by the 1982 UNCLOS and adhere to the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, if peace and stability in the area were to be maintained,” the defense department statement said.

On August 4 the New Zealand and the Philippines engaged in an inaugural defense and security dialogue hosted by the DND in Manila.

The dialogue was meant to “bolster defense ties and with exchanging views on each other’s defense policies as one key step,” as well as to complement existing military cooperation between the two allies through the Mutual Assistance Program Talks.

The Philippine and New Zealand delegations were headed by Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino and New Zealand’s Secretary of Defense John McKinnon.

Also discussed were the situation in the South Pacific, New Zealand’s commitment in Timor Leste, Philippines-United States defense engagements, the Five Power Defense Arrangements, Philippine participation in UN peacekeeping operations, New Zealand Defense Force’s peacekeeping and conflict prevention efforts.

“Prospective areas of deeper defense cooperation were also examined particularly on peacekeeping operations as well as education and training,” officials said.

The Philippines and New Zealand are co-chairs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus Expert Working Group on Peacekeeping.

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