Manila: Emboldened by the start of a 10-day joint war games of 11,500 American and Filipino troopers, a senior Philippine official has called on China to stop its reclamation projects on seven reefs and shoals in the disputed South China Sea.
“We have a compelling reason to raise our voice and to tell the whole world the adverse effects of China’s aggressiveness that has created tension not only among countries that have overlapping claims in the area, but also among countries around the world that are using the international sea lanes in the West Philippine Sea for trade and commerce,” Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang said at the start of the joint US-Philippine war games.
China claims sovereignty over most of the resource-rich and strategically important sea, including areas close to other Asian nations, using vague demarcation lines that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the area.
China has expanded its presence in disputed parts of the sea in recent years, by embarking on giant reclamation work on reefs and islets, turning some into islands capable of hosting military aircraft landing strips.
In an interview last week, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said the world should fear China’s actions in the disputed sea, warning that they could lead to military conflict.
In efforts to deter China, the militarily weaker Philippines has encouraged longtime ally, the United States to increase its presence on Filipino soil and coastal waters through expanded and more frequent war games.
Other nations will soon join the US-Philippine joint war games, announced US assistant exercise director Brig Gen. Christopher Mahoney, adding that observers from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam attended the opening of the joint exercises called “Balikatan” (shoulder to shoulder), which are the biggest annual exercises between the allies, committing each to come to the others’ aid in the event of external aggression.
Participants include the 10-member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and allied partners such as South Korea and Japan. China, also ASEAN’s economic partner, was not mentioned as a participant of the future defence drills, sources said.
“The US is committed to its alliances. In the case of Philippines, our oldest ally in the region, that commitment, President Barack Obama has said, is ironclad,” said US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg, adding that the US will “always defend the important principles of ‘freedom of navigation’ in the air and the sea, and the peaceful resolution of disputes through legal, diplomatic and peaceful means”. The term “freedom of navigation” is loaded in the context of the South China Sea, which hosts roughly 40 per cent of the world’s shipping trade.
The war games will be held from various military bases around the Philippines. On Tuesday, marines will conduct beach landing exercises from a naval base facing the South China Sea just 220 kilometres from a Philippine-claimed shoal that China has controlled since 2012.
— with inputs from AFP