April 28, 2012
By Florante S. Solmerin
Manila Standard Today
DEFENSE and military officials said Friday they will use the country’s decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States to modernize the country’s Armed Forces in the face of China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the Philippines’ recent standoff with China over the Panatag or Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands will be a test of the US government’s willingness to come to the aid of a small nation against Chinese aggression.
“Most importantly, it shall further enhance our security relations and, most importantly, demonstrate our unequivocal resolve to support each other against the threats of external aggression and the enemies of freedom and liberty,” Gazmin said in a speech read for him by Defense Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta during the closing ceremonies for the Balikatan exercises in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
President Benigno Aquino III has sent Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario Thursday to Washington to seek US help in the ongoing dispute. They will meet US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Gazmin said that “as long-time and durable friends and allies” the Philippines and the United States had common obligations as embodied in the defense treaty, which must be rekindled not only in joint military and humanitarian exercises.
He did not specify what military equipment they were going to request from the US government, but based on the Philippines’ priorities Manila would likely seek F16 jet fighters and warships.
Gazmin brought along with him Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Macapagal and Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama.
Armed Force chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa said it was the mandate of the Mutual Defense Treaty to respect national sovereignty, peace and goodwill.
“While diplomacy is the best policy, it should be matched with capabilities to attain stability, security and development,” he said.
Azcueta said the government would ask the US for excess military hardware for its territorial defense. Those, he said, could include systems that had been removed from a Hamilton-class cutter that the Philippines acquired from the US, as well as long-range patrol aircraft and radar systems.
Military officials on Friday said China’s fastest surveillance ship, the FLEC 310, and another maritime surveillance vessel remained in the disputed Scarborough shoal to guard seven Chinese fishing boats.
Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara said the ship was spotted briefly by the Coast Guard about four nautical miles southwest of the Panatag Shoal.
A Chinese defense ministry spokesman said Thursday the armed forces have vowed to fulfill their duty to safeguard China’s territory in the South China Sea.
“China’s military forces will collaborate closely with related governing bodies, including fishery administration and maritime law enforcement, to jointly ensure the country’s maritime rights and interests,” Geng Yansheng said in Beijing.
This was the first official remark from the Chinese armed forces following a standoff with a Philippine warship in the waters off the Panatag Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, on April 10.
The official People’s Daily on Friday said politicians and the media were drumming up “radical” views on the territorial dispute and pandering to the United States.
Malacañang said the planned protests by Filipinos against Chinese embassies and consulates abroad was “a patriotic response” to Chinese aggression in the Panatag Shoal.
“Certainly [it is patriotic]. If they feel their country is put at a disadvantage, this is certainly their reaction to that,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Friday.
“We cannot stop them from mounting these actions. This is a private initiative. The government is committed to taking the diplomatic track. We expect to pursue that track fully, but of course these are private citizens. The citizens of China also do express their thoughts on this matter and we do not take it against them.”
Loida Nicolas Lewis, national chairwoman of a Filipino-American good governance organization, made the call on Filipinos on Thursday, drawing positive responses from an initial batch of Filipino groups in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Australia.
Rodel Rodis, national president of the US Pinoys for Good Governance, called on the Global Filipino Diaspora Council representing 12 million Filipinos in 220 countries throughout the world to support the country’s sovereign claim to the Panatag Shoal.
“Our only appeal is for them to keep the protest actions orderly and peaceful,” Valte said.
The standoff in Panatag has also resulted in an online war between Chinese and Filipino hackers, with the Budget Department website being the latest to be defaced on Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, at least three Malacañang websites were also attacked by Chinese hackers. On April 20, hackers attacked the University of the Philippines website and uploaded inflammatory content about the country’s dispute with China over the Panatag Shoal.
Filipino hackers retaliated and defaced some Chinese websites on Sunday.
China, meanwhile, has approved a development project that would support tourism and fishing around South China Sea islands, a move likely to inflame territorial disputes.
The southernmost Hainan province wants to build a supply dock over more than 823 acres of water off Jinqing island, which is part of the Paracel chain. Vietnam claims the Paracels as its territory and has protested China’s tourism plans there.
The State Oceanic Administration said Thursday it had agreed “in principle” to Hainan’s proposal. It was considering a proposal for another supply dock in the South China Sea, the statement said without elaborating.
China also complained about a Philippine plan to build a primary school on what Beijing calls Zhongye, a disputed island in the South China Sea occupied by Filipinos. With Joyce Pangco Pañares and AP
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/04/28/standoff-over-panatag-shoal-to-test-us-ph-defense-treaty/
Manila Standard Today
DEFENSE and military officials said Friday they will use the country’s decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States to modernize the country’s Armed Forces in the face of China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the Philippines’ recent standoff with China over the Panatag or Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands will be a test of the US government’s willingness to come to the aid of a small nation against Chinese aggression.
“Most importantly, it shall further enhance our security relations and, most importantly, demonstrate our unequivocal resolve to support each other against the threats of external aggression and the enemies of freedom and liberty,” Gazmin said in a speech read for him by Defense Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta during the closing ceremonies for the Balikatan exercises in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
President Benigno Aquino III has sent Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario Thursday to Washington to seek US help in the ongoing dispute. They will meet US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Gazmin said that “as long-time and durable friends and allies” the Philippines and the United States had common obligations as embodied in the defense treaty, which must be rekindled not only in joint military and humanitarian exercises.
He did not specify what military equipment they were going to request from the US government, but based on the Philippines’ priorities Manila would likely seek F16 jet fighters and warships.
Gazmin brought along with him Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Macapagal and Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama.
Armed Force chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa said it was the mandate of the Mutual Defense Treaty to respect national sovereignty, peace and goodwill.
“While diplomacy is the best policy, it should be matched with capabilities to attain stability, security and development,” he said.
Azcueta said the government would ask the US for excess military hardware for its territorial defense. Those, he said, could include systems that had been removed from a Hamilton-class cutter that the Philippines acquired from the US, as well as long-range patrol aircraft and radar systems.
Military officials on Friday said China’s fastest surveillance ship, the FLEC 310, and another maritime surveillance vessel remained in the disputed Scarborough shoal to guard seven Chinese fishing boats.
Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara said the ship was spotted briefly by the Coast Guard about four nautical miles southwest of the Panatag Shoal.
A Chinese defense ministry spokesman said Thursday the armed forces have vowed to fulfill their duty to safeguard China’s territory in the South China Sea.
“China’s military forces will collaborate closely with related governing bodies, including fishery administration and maritime law enforcement, to jointly ensure the country’s maritime rights and interests,” Geng Yansheng said in Beijing.
This was the first official remark from the Chinese armed forces following a standoff with a Philippine warship in the waters off the Panatag Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, on April 10.
The official People’s Daily on Friday said politicians and the media were drumming up “radical” views on the territorial dispute and pandering to the United States.
Malacañang said the planned protests by Filipinos against Chinese embassies and consulates abroad was “a patriotic response” to Chinese aggression in the Panatag Shoal.
“Certainly [it is patriotic]. If they feel their country is put at a disadvantage, this is certainly their reaction to that,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Friday.
“We cannot stop them from mounting these actions. This is a private initiative. The government is committed to taking the diplomatic track. We expect to pursue that track fully, but of course these are private citizens. The citizens of China also do express their thoughts on this matter and we do not take it against them.”
Loida Nicolas Lewis, national chairwoman of a Filipino-American good governance organization, made the call on Filipinos on Thursday, drawing positive responses from an initial batch of Filipino groups in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Australia.
Rodel Rodis, national president of the US Pinoys for Good Governance, called on the Global Filipino Diaspora Council representing 12 million Filipinos in 220 countries throughout the world to support the country’s sovereign claim to the Panatag Shoal.
“Our only appeal is for them to keep the protest actions orderly and peaceful,” Valte said.
The standoff in Panatag has also resulted in an online war between Chinese and Filipino hackers, with the Budget Department website being the latest to be defaced on Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, at least three Malacañang websites were also attacked by Chinese hackers. On April 20, hackers attacked the University of the Philippines website and uploaded inflammatory content about the country’s dispute with China over the Panatag Shoal.
Filipino hackers retaliated and defaced some Chinese websites on Sunday.
China, meanwhile, has approved a development project that would support tourism and fishing around South China Sea islands, a move likely to inflame territorial disputes.
The southernmost Hainan province wants to build a supply dock over more than 823 acres of water off Jinqing island, which is part of the Paracel chain. Vietnam claims the Paracels as its territory and has protested China’s tourism plans there.
The State Oceanic Administration said Thursday it had agreed “in principle” to Hainan’s proposal. It was considering a proposal for another supply dock in the South China Sea, the statement said without elaborating.
China also complained about a Philippine plan to build a primary school on what Beijing calls Zhongye, a disputed island in the South China Sea occupied by Filipinos. With Joyce Pangco Pañares and AP
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/04/28/standoff-over-panatag-shoal-to-test-us-ph-defense-treaty/
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