THE US said Thursday it has launched South China Sea patrols with the Philippines and will temporarily deploy 275 troops and five warplanes in the country, heightening its presence here amid the country’s territorial dispute with China.
“In the South China Sea, China’s actions in particular are causing anxiety and raising regional tensions,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said during a visit to Manila.
The joint naval patrols, which began last month, “contribute to the safety and security of the region’s waters,” Carter said after meeting with President Benigno Aquino III.
China claims most of the strategic and mineral-rich sea, and has built artificial islands also claimed by neighbors including the Philippines to enforce its sovereignty, while rejecting international arbitration.
The US said 275 American troops, among about 5,000 military personnel taking part in annual war games in the Philippines, are to stay behind after the exercises end on Friday.
Five A-10C Thunderbolt ground attack planes and four other aircraft will also remain until the end of the month, he said.
Some 200 are to train Filipino soldiers until the end of the month, while the remainder will be stationed at a Manila military base on an unspecified “rotational” basis to form a “command and control” unit to support increased activities between the two allies, Carter added.
A critic of the administration voiced concern over Carter’s announcement.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said Carter’s announcement that US military activity in the Philippines will reach “new levels” not seen in decades was a return to the country’s past as a colony of the United States.
“This new level of US military activity that Secretary Carter is trumpeting is tantamount to the full return of US military supremacy in the Philippines, in a level not seen since the Commonwealth days. To say that this is alarming will be a gross understatement,” Ridon said.
Ridon lambasted Washington for exploiting the West Philippine Sea dispute to forward its “rebalancing” agenda in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The threat that Beijing poses for our national security is real and significant, yet it does not necessarily mean that we should allow US military forces unprecedented entry to our military bases and facilities. Claiming to defend national sovereignty from one bully by surrendering it to another bully is simply illogical,” Ridon said.
He added that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that the country signed in 2014 put it at a disadvantage.
“Little by little, Edca is being exposed as nothing but a flimsy excuse to hand over our sovereignty to the US in a silver platter.
“Our countrymen do not deserve this new travesty against our national sovereignty. The Aquino administration keeps harping about how this new pact would supposedly shield us from Chinese incursions in our seas, yet a deeper analysis would reveal that such agreement would only advance Washington’s economic and political interests, especially its bid to finally secure China’s support and allegiance,” Ridon said.
At a meeting in Thailand, the Philippine Permanent Representative to Association of Southeast Asian Nations said that respecting the rule of law and arbitration is an important factor for settling territorial disputes over the West Philippine Sea.
Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso made the statement during a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to Asean and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in Thailand.
In a statement, Buensuceso expressed Manila’s appreciation for a recent EU statement on the need to maintain a legal order for the seas and oceans based on the principles of international law.”