MANILA, Philippines — Philippine and U.S. negotiators reached agreement on key points of a pact to boost the American troop presence as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to counter China’s push for control of disputed South China Sea territory. ADVERTISING
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine and U.S. negotiators reached agreement on key points of a pact to boost the American troop presence as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to counter China’s push for control of disputed South China Sea territory.
Representatives of both nations finished the eighth round of “very productive” negotiations in Manila, the Philippine defense and foreign affairs departments said in a joint emailed statement Friday. A draft of the defense cooperation agreement will be submitted to President Benigno Aquino for approval, the departments said.
“The Philippines is ready for a heightened level of defense cooperation,” Defense Undersecretary Pio Batino said in the statement. “This agreement, which should stand on mutual trust, is an idea whose time has come.”
The pact is part of Aquino’s plan to shore up military ties with allies such as the U.S., which is treaty-bound to defend the country in case of conflict. It also aids the U.S. strategic rebalancing toward Asia pushed by President Obama as China’s leaders seek a greater role for their country in the region.
The agreement is likely to be signed before Obama’s visit to the country this month during his Asian tour, Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said by phone.
“The necessity for a robust military partnership with the U.S. has gained greater salience after the Philippines enraged China by filing an arbitration case against it,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University. “The Philippines needs greater access to advanced U.S. military hardware and unequivocal U.S. commitment to come to our rescue in the event of conflict in the South China Sea.”
China has rejected arbitration to resolve the dispute with the Philippines over resource-rich parts of the South China Sea, preferring bilateral talks.
The draft deal respects Philippine sovereignty and prevents the permanent stationing of U.S. troops and the U.S. having military bases or weapons of mass destruction in the country, according to the statement. U.S. access to and use of Philippine military facilities will be at the invitation of the Philippines and with full adherence to its laws, the defense department said.
The Philippines lacks the military muscle to defend itself against China, which spends 47 times more on defense and has sought to assert its sea claims as its economic clout has grown.
Chinese ships used water cannons in January to drive Filipino fishermen away from the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said on Feb. 24. China warned off two Philippine boats near the Second Thomas Shoal last month, its Foreign Ministry said on March 10.
Aggression is “contrary to good order” and the U.S. has an obligation to help the Philippines in case of conflict, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, U.S. Navy chief of naval operations, said at a forum in Manila in February. The U.S. strongly supports “legal, peaceful and diplomatic solutions to claims and conduct” in the South China Sea, Ambassador Philip Goldberg said on Twitter last month.
The pact will help the Philippines achieve a “minimum credible defense posture” and speedier humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, Batino said.
The draft agreement contemplates a “new model of security engagement” for both countries, Lourdes Yparraguirre, a member of the Philippine negotiating panel, said in the statement, citing maturing ties between the two countries.
Last month, the Philippines sued China at a United Nations tribunal to assert its claim to shoals and islands in the resource-rich South China Sea, a process that China has rejected.
China will make “no compromise, no concessions” in disputes over territory and resources with Japan and the Philippines, and is ready to fight and win any battle, General Chang Wanquan said April 8 at a briefing in Beijing alongside his visiting U.S. counterpart, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Aquino is also seeking to boost military ties with Japan, which is locked in a separate dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea. Two Japanese destroyers and two helicopters visited Manila early this month, and Japan will encourage more joint training with the Philippine military, Captain Hideto Ikeda, commander of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s 13th Escort Division, said on April 2.
The U.S. ended its permanent military presence in the Philippines with the closing of the Subic Bay base after the lease ended in 1991. The U.S. rotates 500 troops into the southern Philippines each year to aid in counter-terrorism operations.
— With assistance from Clarissa Batino and Joel Guinto in Manila.
