US vows to help Phl in defense
WASHINGTON – The United States pledged Thursday to help the Philippines step up its defenses in the face of a rising China as it welcomed President Aquino who is set to meet President Barack Obama on Friday afternoon (this morning in Manila).
Aquino is seen by US of
fi cials as a promising partner after raising the profile of the Philippines in Washington through his pledges to tackle corruption and boost the military relationship with the US.
Top US military officer Gen. Martin Dempsey, who met Aquino on Monday in Manila, said he spoke about expanding cooperation with the former US colony beyond recent efforts focused on fighting Islamic insurgents.
The Philippines “has been inward-focused on its internal terrorism and insurgent issues for some time – for decades really – and so has a very limited capability to project power or
to influence activities around it,” said Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“We think that they need some of that, particularly in maritime security,” Dempsey told reporters in Washington.
The US has already been helping to upgrade the notoriously antiquated Philippine military and Aquino has agreed to let a greater number of US troops rotate – but not set up bases – in the archipelago.
An Obama administration
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the two leaders would review defense ties and also “talk about the
work ahead in broadening cooperation.”
The cooperation comes as the Philippines – a US treaty ally – sees particularly tense relations with China, which has butted heads with a number of its neighbors in recent years over territorial disputes in strategic waters.
Friction escalated in April when Chinese and Philippine vessels approached the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, which lies near the main Philippine island of Luzon.
Manila says the rock formation falls within its exclusive economic zone, but China claims the shoal along with nearly all of the South China Sea.
Dempsey said he spoke with Aquino about the need to “ensure freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
He added that he and Aquino did not discuss the disputes in themselves but “we certainly called on all claimants to resolve these issues through existing international fora and without coercion.”
The Obama administration has pledged a growing focus on Asia, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announcing last week that the United States would shift the majority of its
naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020.
China has voiced uneasiness about the Obama administration’s effort in Asia, with some Chinese scholars suspecting that a declining US is trying to hold back a rising Beijing.
Dempsey denied any such effort and, in line with frequent comments by US officials, said that the US mili
tary brought stability to Asia. “I ( have) assured anyone that chose to ask me the question – our
strategy and rebalancing to the Pacific is not intended to contain China,” Dempsey said.
Obama also plans to discuss trade
with Aquino, including measures the Philippines would need to take for eventual participation in talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an emerging trade pact, an official said.
Ernie Bower, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he expected strong US support for the Philippines on the South China Sea.
But he said that an emphasis on trade during Aquino’s visit could serve as a balance after concerns in the region that the US has focused too much on the military side of its efforts in Asia.
“The United States is very bullish on Aquino. He’s got the economy cranking and he wants to step forward on the political/military side,” Bower said.
The Philippine President, son of democracy icons former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and his wife Corazon, herself a former president,
recently won a high-profile battle in
his campaign against corruption with
the sacking of its top magistrate.
Categorical statement
Meanwhile, Philippine officials told The Associated Press that while Manila is amenable to troop rotations, more military exercises and port visits, they want Washington to issue a clear public statement that the US would come to the Philippines’ defense if it comes under attack, as provided under their mutual defense treaty.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.
Washington has been unwilling to go beyond general pronouncements that it will comply with its obligations under the treaty.
The US needs to get along with China to prevent their strategic rivalry from spiraling into confrontation and would likely balk at a public declaration of the kind the Philippines seeks. In the past week, tensions at the disputed Panatag Shoal have receded a little, as China and the Philippines withdrew some vessels from a lagoon at the center of the standoff.
Patrick Cronin, director of the Asia
Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, said Aquino is serious about defense modernization, but the US and the Philippines need a measured approach in building the Philippines’ military capacity and in deterring Chinese coercion.
The US has already sent strong messages in recent weeks about its determination to be viewed as a Pacific power.
Last month saw a rare stop by a US submarine at Subic Bay, location of a former American naval base that faces the South China Sea. And in the past week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited emerging strategic ally India and Vietnam – another South China Sea claimant at odds with China and forging closer relations with the United States. Panetta announced that 60 percent of the Navy’s fleet will be deployed to the Pacific by 2020, up
from about 50 percent now. – AFP, AP