US won’t risk war with China over Spratlys – lawmakers

The United States would not risk war with China over the disputed Spratlys group of islets in the West Philippine Sea, two congressmen said yesterday.

Bayan Muna Representatives Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares made the assessment in reaction to US President Barack Obama’s expression of support for Philippine efforts to seek a diplomatic solution to the territorial dispute.

“President Obama’s statement on China’s expansion is a calculated response, but the US would not risk a war with China because its economy would collapse without China,” they said.

They said the US owes China at least $ 1.28 trillion and has a $ 579- billion trade with Beijing, compared to only $17.6 billion with the Philippines.

“All the US would do is posture that it would defend the Philippines but it will not. That is the hard and cold reality, so it is best that we build our strength and rely on our own resolve with the help of the international community to defend our sovereignty,” they said.

Zarate and Colmenares, however, welcomed growing international support for the government’s decision to stick to the diplomatic route in solving its territorial conflict with China.

“China should stop its reclamation activities now and instead just engage us in the international tribunal if indeed they have the legal basis and evidence to do so. As it is China’s expansionist policy based on its nine-dash line theory is without legal, historical and moral basis,” they said.

“Every Filipino should defend our territory and exclusive economic zones and President Aquino should fortify our positions in the area to counter China’s aggressive acts,” they said.

Obama’s statement came amid reports that Beijing is speeding up reclamation activities in disputed islets that are inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

Malacañang has welcomed the US president’s statement.

“We note that in his most recent remarks in Jamaica, President Obama has reaffirmed the solidarity of the United States with the Philippines in upholding the principle that disputes on maritime entitlements in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) must be resolved diplomatically and in accordance with international law,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said on Sunday.

Asked whether China was changing the game through massive reclamation activities in the Spratlys, Coloma stressed that as a member of the United Nations, China was expected to abide by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS) that delineates the maritime entitlements of countries.

Obama expressed concern at a townhall event in Kingston, Jamaica Thursday over China’s use of its “sheer size and muscle” to push around small countries like the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.

Coloma said China’s growing aggression was the reason the Philippines submitted a memorial or written argument of its position on the issue to the UN arbitral tribunal in The Hague.

He said President Aquino would likely raise the issue at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia later this month.