Nitin Goyal
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MANILA, Philippines: In a highly symbolic ceremony aboard a guided-missile destroyer on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton underlined America's military and diplomatic support for the Philippines as the island nation engages in an increasingly tense dispute with China over claims in the resource-rich South China Sea.
On the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay, Clinton and her Philippine counterpart, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, signed a declaration calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those over the South China Sea. Six countries in the region have competing claims, but China wants them to negotiate one-to-one _ and chafes at any US involvement.
Clinton said that at this week's East Asian Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the U.S. ``will certainly expect and participate in very open and frank discussions,'' including the maritime challenges in the region and how to address them. Beijing said Tuesday it opposes bringing up the issue at the summit.
The US said it is helping its longtime Asian ally reinforce its weak navy as it wrangles with China over the sea's potentially oil-rich Spratly islands, which straddle one of the world's most vital sea lanes.
``We are making sure that our collective defense capabilities and communications infrastructure are operationally and materially capable of deterring provocations from the full spectrum of state and non-state actors,'' Clinton said aboard the Fitzgerald, a U.S. Navy vessel that has operated in the South China Sea.
The Manila Declaration signed by Clinton and del Rosario commemorated the 60th anniversary of the allies' Mutual Defense Treaty. It also calls for ``maintaining freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce, and transit of people across the seas.''
Del Rosario said that Washington's support for ``a stronger, reliable Philippine defense'' was crucial for stability and the two allies' common goals in the South China Sea. He reiterated that the Philippines planned to seek U.N. arbitration in the territorial dispute.
Clinton and President Benigno Aquino III later reaffirmed the countries' defense alliance and discussed details of intensified U.S. military assistance.
The U.S. is bolstering the underfunded Philippine military's capability to guard territorial waters and Manila-claimed areas in the disputed Spratlys _ a chain of up to 190 islands, reefs and banks in the South China Sea.
The Spratlys are being disputed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The territorial disputes have been feared as Asia's next flashpoint for conflict.
Washington has maintained a policy of not siding with any Asian claimant locked in the disputes while maintaining robust economic ties with Beijing. But the U.S. has said it has a stake in security and unhampered international commerce in the South China Sea, angering China, which says American involvement will only complicate the issue.
The Philippines, whose poorly equipped forces are no match for China's powerful military, has resorted to diplomatic protests and increasingly turned to Washington to reinforce its anemic navy and air forces. Aquino has insisted his country won't be bullied by China.
A senior U.S. State Department official traveling with Clinton told reporters that America's military assistance to the Philippines will increasingly turn to bolstering its naval power.
For nearly a decade, the U.S. military has been providing counterterrorism training, weapons and intelligence to help Filipino troops battle al-Qaida-linked groups in the nation's south. Those include the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, and its allied militants from the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah group.
``We are now in the process ... of diversifying and changing the nature of our engagement,'' the U.S. official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the information. ``We will continue those efforts in the south, but we are focusing more on maritime capabilities and other aspects of expeditionary military power.''
The U.S. recently provided the Philippines with a destroyer, and the official said a second one will be delivered soon. ``We are working on a whole host of things that improve their own indigenous capabilities to be able to deal with maritime challenges,'' the official said.
The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty calls on each country to help defend the other against an external attack by an aggressor in their territories or in the Pacific region.
Questions have emerged whether the treaty would apply if Philippine forces come under attack in the disputed waters, all of which are claimed by China.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs says in a policy paper that the treaty requires Washington to help defend Filipino forces, citing U.S. diplomatic dispatches that defined the Pacific region as including the South China Sea.
Clinton said in June that the U.S. would honor its commitment under the treaty but refused to comment specifically if that includes the Spratlys.
While it backs the Philippines, the State Department official suggested such help has its limits. ``We're very sensitive to making sure that this does not in any way alarm or provoke anybody else,'' he said.
US, Philippines boost ties amid row with China - The Times of India
On the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay, Clinton and her Philippine counterpart, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, signed a declaration calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those over the South China Sea. Six countries in the region have competing claims, but China wants them to negotiate one-to-one _ and chafes at any US involvement.
Clinton said that at this week's East Asian Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the U.S. ``will certainly expect and participate in very open and frank discussions,'' including the maritime challenges in the region and how to address them. Beijing said Tuesday it opposes bringing up the issue at the summit.
The US said it is helping its longtime Asian ally reinforce its weak navy as it wrangles with China over the sea's potentially oil-rich Spratly islands, which straddle one of the world's most vital sea lanes.
``We are making sure that our collective defense capabilities and communications infrastructure are operationally and materially capable of deterring provocations from the full spectrum of state and non-state actors,'' Clinton said aboard the Fitzgerald, a U.S. Navy vessel that has operated in the South China Sea.
The Manila Declaration signed by Clinton and del Rosario commemorated the 60th anniversary of the allies' Mutual Defense Treaty. It also calls for ``maintaining freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce, and transit of people across the seas.''
Del Rosario said that Washington's support for ``a stronger, reliable Philippine defense'' was crucial for stability and the two allies' common goals in the South China Sea. He reiterated that the Philippines planned to seek U.N. arbitration in the territorial dispute.
Clinton and President Benigno Aquino III later reaffirmed the countries' defense alliance and discussed details of intensified U.S. military assistance.
The U.S. is bolstering the underfunded Philippine military's capability to guard territorial waters and Manila-claimed areas in the disputed Spratlys _ a chain of up to 190 islands, reefs and banks in the South China Sea.
The Spratlys are being disputed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The territorial disputes have been feared as Asia's next flashpoint for conflict.
Washington has maintained a policy of not siding with any Asian claimant locked in the disputes while maintaining robust economic ties with Beijing. But the U.S. has said it has a stake in security and unhampered international commerce in the South China Sea, angering China, which says American involvement will only complicate the issue.
The Philippines, whose poorly equipped forces are no match for China's powerful military, has resorted to diplomatic protests and increasingly turned to Washington to reinforce its anemic navy and air forces. Aquino has insisted his country won't be bullied by China.
A senior U.S. State Department official traveling with Clinton told reporters that America's military assistance to the Philippines will increasingly turn to bolstering its naval power.
For nearly a decade, the U.S. military has been providing counterterrorism training, weapons and intelligence to help Filipino troops battle al-Qaida-linked groups in the nation's south. Those include the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, and its allied militants from the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah group.
``We are now in the process ... of diversifying and changing the nature of our engagement,'' the U.S. official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the information. ``We will continue those efforts in the south, but we are focusing more on maritime capabilities and other aspects of expeditionary military power.''
The U.S. recently provided the Philippines with a destroyer, and the official said a second one will be delivered soon. ``We are working on a whole host of things that improve their own indigenous capabilities to be able to deal with maritime challenges,'' the official said.
The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty calls on each country to help defend the other against an external attack by an aggressor in their territories or in the Pacific region.
Questions have emerged whether the treaty would apply if Philippine forces come under attack in the disputed waters, all of which are claimed by China.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs says in a policy paper that the treaty requires Washington to help defend Filipino forces, citing U.S. diplomatic dispatches that defined the Pacific region as including the South China Sea.
Clinton said in June that the U.S. would honor its commitment under the treaty but refused to comment specifically if that includes the Spratlys.
While it backs the Philippines, the State Department official suggested such help has its limits. ``We're very sensitive to making sure that this does not in any way alarm or provoke anybody else,'' he said.
US, Philippines boost ties amid row with China - The Times of India
