Philippines hosts Back to Back USA - ASEAN Meeting in Manila – Amidst Stand-off with China

The Philippines will host the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations-United States Dialogue and the first Meeting of the ASEAN-U.S. Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in Manila from May 20 to 22, 2012 as announced by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs – Thursday (5/17/2012).

The ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue is a regular meeting held between ASEAN and U.S. Senior Officials who will review the progress in ASEAN-U. S. cooperation and exchange views on regional and international developments, including the launching of the ASEAN-U.S. EPG and preparations for the 4th ASEAN-U.S. Leaders' Meeting in November, the Ministry said in a statement released Thursday.

The 25th ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue will be co-chaired by Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda Basilio, in her capacity as Philippine Senior Official Meeting (SOM) Leader, and by Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell of the U.S. State Department- Office for East Asia and the Pacific, it said.

Prior to the Dialogue, the ASEAN-U.S. EPG will meet for the first time on May 21. The meeting, a recommendation of ASEAN-U.S. Leaders, is to discuss issues including reviewing ASEAN-U.S. relations and recommending future actions; strengthening cooperation and coordination in specific sectors, such as trade and investment, disaster response and energy security; and identifying new steps for the effective implementation of the decisions of previous ASEAN-U.S. Leaders' Meetings and the Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-U.S. Enhanced Partnership.

The role of the EPG is to review ASEAN-US relations and recommend future actions, including opportunities to enhance cooperation on regional and global issues.

It is also tasked to strengthen cooperation and coordination in specific sectors, such as trade and investment, disaster response and energy security.

The EPG will identify new steps for the effective implementation of the decisions of previous ASEAN-US leaders' meetings and the plan of action to implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-US Enhanced Partnership.

Philippine officials, who are hosting the May 20-22 meetings, did not immediately say if maritime issues, including the territorial spat with China in the West Philippine Sea, would be tackled.

Manila and Beijing are locked in a tense maritime standoff at the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, since April 10.

Both countries are seeking a quick end to the impasse in the shoal 124 nautical miles off Luzon's northwestern coast and china's 472 nautical miles from its closest province in Hainan.

The Philippines has asked the ASEAN and foreign governments to take a stand against what it perceives as China's looming threat to freedom of navigation in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea).

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in a statement, said the dialogue is "a regular meeting" held between senior officials from the two sides "to review the progress in ASEAN-US cooperation."

Both sides would also exchange views on regional and international developments, it added.

The Philippines is the country coordinator for ASEAN-US dialogue relations from 2009 to 2012.

The ASEAN is a regional bloc of democratic, socialist and aristocratic states formed in the Cold War era. Its member states are the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

These countries, at one time or another, had been engaged in conflicting territorial claims.

China-leaning ASEAN members, like Cambodia and Laos, have generally echoed Beijing's stance of tackling the recent territorial dispute bilaterally, while US allies, such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore have called for a multilateral solution to the problem.

The latest dispute that has run for almost six weeks, Philippine and Chinese vessels are facing off in the shoal, a ring-shaped coral reef with rocky outcrops encircling a lagoon in Zambales Province of the Philippines.

China's nearest Hainan province lies 472 nautical miles from the Panatag Shoal, which lies 124 nautical miles of Zambales province in Luzon.

Beijing has rejected Manila's claim and argued the shoal's proximity to the disputed area cannot be a basis for ownership.

Philippine officials said the shoal is also well within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area where coastal countries have sole rights to exploit and develop, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Both China and the Philippines have ratified the UNCLOS.

But China says it owns the shoal on the basis of ancient maps, records and what Beijing says is its discovery of the area in ancient times. 

The US is one of the longstanding dialogue partners of ASEAN, having established relations with the regional bloc in 1977.

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USA fast attack submarine USS North Carolina surface in Scarborough Shoal amidst China- Philippines Standoff

US Virginia Class fast attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN-777)

One of the most modern submarine in the United States (US) Navy, on a current deployment to ensure freedom of navigation in the Western Pacific, surfaced at Subic Bay in Zambales on Sunday.

The arrival of Virginia Class fast attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN-777) came amid a tense territorial standoff for more than a month now between the Philippines and China in Panatag Shoal, a rock formation 124 nautical miles from mainland Zambales.

"The crew is proud of our recent contributions as part of our country's commitment to maintaining freedom of navigation, peace and stability in the region," said Cmdr. Richard Rhinehart, North Carolina's commanding officer, in a press statement released by the United States-Pacific Command (USPACOM).

USS Carolina is the fourth submarine in the Virginia Class, the Navy's newest class of submarine and the first ship designed for the post Cold-War environment.

The submarine is designed to operate with stealth, agility and endurance in the world's littoral regions, as well as the deep oceans.

Unlike the visits of other US vessels in the country, the docking of USS Carolina at Subic bolstered earlier speculations that the US government, while openly declaring that it will not interfere with any territorial disputes in the region, is also closely watching the prevailing standoff between the Philippines and the China over the ownership of the the Bajo de Masinloc or "Karburo" to the local fishermen.

The Panatag shoal is called Scarborough and also Huangyan Island by the Chinese.

The Philippines and the US are binded by the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), which requires both parties to come to defend any of the party in an event of an armed aggression.

While Philippine Navy (PN) officials appeared not to be fully aware of the USS Carolina presence in Subic, high-level sources said the submarine would be staying at former US Naval base for reprovisioning before leaving on May 19.

USS Carolina whose homeport is Pearl Harbor in Hawaii is 350 feet long and weighs more than 7,800 tons when submerged. The vessel is one of the stealthiest, most technologically advance submarines in the world.

"She brings to the region the capability to conduct the full spectrum of potential submarine missions including anti-submarine warfare, naval special warfare involving special operations forces, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and mine warfare," the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) in a press statement said.

US - SSN Virginia Class Cutaway 774 

Relatedly, the Philippine Navy's flagship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a second-hand Hamilton Class Cutter acquired from the US, was pulled out from its maritime mission in the West Philippine Sea to undergo maintenance check.

But contrary to reports that the Frigate's weapons systems bogged down at the height of the standoff in Panatag last week, everything is working, the Navy said.

"It's just a scheduled maintenance. She underwent preventive maintenance last week," Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay, said of the Frigate.

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