西卡防水招聘:Philippines embraces US, repels China

来源：百度文库 编辑：九乡新闻网 时间：2024/04/27 16:07:32

Philippines embraces US, repels China






A recent tussle over the Spratly/Nansha Islands has dampened warming China-Philippine relations and has reinvigorated Manila's strategic partnership with the United States. The diplomatic realignment, forged over a territorial dispute, could have important strategic implications depending upon Beijing's reaction to Manila's more overt pro-US orientation.


For the first time in years, Manila lodged a strong diplomatic protest with Beijing over alleged "harassment" on March 2 by two Chinese naval boats of a Philippine vessel exploring for oil in the Spratly Islands' Reed Bank. "We handed them a protest letter on the incident ... We want to de-escalate the situation," Philippine President Benigno Aquino told reporters.


In naval terminology, maritime "harassment" occurs when a ship is trailed, approached, or blocked by another vessel or vessels. In the incident, the Philippine vessel was sandwiched between two Chinese naval boats in an apparent attempt to drive it away from an area in the South China Sea that Beijing considers its territory.


Beijing shrugged off Manila's official protest, insisting as usual that the Spratlys, which it refers to as the Nansha Islands, has been part of its national territory since ancient times. Manila contended that the potentially mineral-rich Reed Bank, an area within the Spratly group of islands and islets, falls within its own 220-mile exclusive economic zone.


Manila dispatched two US-supplied war planes, the OV-10 Bronco, a bomber, and the Islander, a combat-ready reconnaissance plane, to deter what it viewed as intruding Chinese gunboats. Avoiding a confrontation, the two Chinese naval vessels moved away to an unknown destination, allowing the Philippine oil exploration ship to resume its activities. No Chinese plane was spotted in the area, according to the Philippine Air Force.





The Philippines is set to pursue oil exploration, the Philippines government and the company behind the project said. Britain-based Forum Energy said in a statement it had completed a seismic survey on the Sampaguita Gas field off the Reed Bank.


Beyond deploying naval ships to conduct "sovereignty" patrols, Manila is also in the process of installing radar equipment on nine Spratlys islands it claims as part of Philippine national territory. The Philippines refers to these islands as the Kalayaan, which means "freedom" in the local dialect. There are also plans to upgrade and airstrip on one of the islands into a full-blown air base.


"We have an airstrip and all we have to do is to make an air base to augment our maritime patrols, especially in the vicinity of our claimed islands," the military's western command chief Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban said recently. To date, Beijing has given no reaction to Manila's plans to upgrade the air strip into an air base.


Some analysts believe Manila has been emboldened by recent strong overtures from Washington. In what some perceive as a strategic pivot in Philippine policy, foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario has made clear that the United States remains the country's "sole" strategic partner.


That announcement followed the first ever bilateral strategic dialogue between the Philippines and US, held on January 27-28 in Manila. During those discussions attended by US assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell, both agreed to raise bilateral cooperation on regional and global issues to a higher level. The move seemingly comes at the expense of Philippine relations with China, to which former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave priority during her nine-year rule.


Some have therefore portrayed the March 2 tussle at sea with China as a litmus test of Aquino's pro-US foreign policy.


In a March 14 phone call to the newly appointed del Rosario, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern over the March 2 incident and called for the implementation of a legally binding maritime code of conduct among claimants to the Spratlys. Apart from the Philippines and China, other countries to have laid claims, either wholly or partly, to the chain of islands and islets include Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.


In her message to del Rosario, apparently intended just as much for China, Clinton reiterated Washington's long-standing offer to mediate negotiations for a code to ensure regional peace and stability in the maritime area. While the US has not staked a claim to the Spratlys, Clinton has said related freedom of navigation issues around the Spratly Islands are "core" to US national interests.


China has resisted US intervention in the dispute, arguing that its involvement would only hamper a resolution of the issue. Beijing has made known its preference for bilateral negotiations over a multilateral approach to the dispute. Before the March 2 incident, Yang Jiechi, China's minister of foreign affairs, said the United States was ''ganging up'' with other countries against China.


After the March 2 incident, Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao told reporters in Manila that concerns over freedom of navigation in the South China Sea are "no excuse" for any third party to get involved in the dispute. Liu argued that US mediation in the overlapping territorial claims would unnecessarily "magnify" the issue and make it more complicated and difficult to settle.


Meanwhile US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr urged all of the Spratly claimants, especially China, to avoid confrontation. "We urge restraint on all sides," he said, adding that the overlapping claims should be resolved at the negotiating table. "We believe that the ASEAN states and China should sit down according to the 2002 Code of Conduct" which both sides sealed in Manila.


That agreement, however, was non-binding in nature and has wholly failed to resolve the long simmering territorial dispute. Del Rosario, who is US-educated and a former envoy to Washington, has expressed his agreement with the American stance, voicing the need to conclude a legally binding regional code of conduct to avoid hostilities between and among claimants.


"It is in the best interest of the region to transform this potential flashpoint into a zone of peace, friendship and cooperation through sustained consultation and dialogue," said del Rosario in a recent statement. (Asia Times Online/AFP)

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