WASHINGTON
- The United States says it will help
build the Philippines' sea patrol capability but will not take sides in that
nation's standoff with China at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
The top
diplomats and defense officials of the treaty allies held their first joint
meeting on Monday and discussed the three-week standoff at Scarborough Shoal in
the region which Manila calls West Philippine Sea.
Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reaffirmed US commitment to its mutual defense
treaty with the Philippines, and to freedom of navigation and regional
security. She reiterated support for a diplomatic resolution to territorial
disputes.
A joint
statement said they would cooperate on building the Philippines' maritime
security capabilities. The United States will transfer a second ship to the
poorly equipped Philippine Navy this year.
Clinton
later told reporters that the meeting of the two countries' four key national
security officials was "a testament to our shared commitment to write a
new chapter" in their partnership.
She
voiced concern about Scarborough Shoal, repeating that Washington does not take
sides on competing sovereignty claims there but has a national interest in
maintaining freedom of navigation as well as peace and stability.
"The
United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all those involved
for resolving the various disputes that they encounter," she said.
"We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its
claims."
Foreign
Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin appealed to
their counterparts for help in building a "minimum credible defense."
Painful
but true
Del
Rosario lamented how the international news media has accurately described the
poor state of the Philippine armed forces.
"It
sounds terribly painful for the Philippines, but more painful is the fact that
this is true, and we only have ourselves to blame for it," Del Rosario
said candidly as Clinton and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta listened across
a table.
"For
the Philippines to be minimally relied upon as a US regional partner … it
therefore behooves us to resort to all possible means to build at the very
least a most minimal credible defense posture," Del Rosario said.
"On
our own, we will do the best we can," he said.
"Developing
a minimum credible defense posture may however be hastened mainly through an
enhancement of the activities we do together with our singular treaty and
through a positive consideration of increased assistance that we seek at this
time as well," he said.
The two
nations, which completed extensive war games earlier this month, are bound by a
mutual defense treaty in which the United States has pledged to come to the aid
of its weaker ally if it faces military aggression.
"We
are concurrently seeking a higher level of assistance from other international
partners," Del Rosario added.
Credible defense
Gazmin
alluded to tension with China over islands in the South China Sea as he called
for the need to "intensify our mutual trust to uphold maritime security
and the freedom of navigation."
"We
should be able to work together to build the Philippines minimum credible
defense posture, especially in upholding maritime security," Gazmin said.
The
Philippines and China have been embroiled in a dispute at Scarborough Shoal,
with both nations stationing vessels there for nearly three weeks to assert
their sovereignty.
The
Philippines says the area, which it calls Panatag Shoal, is its territory
because it falls well within its 270-kilometer exclusive economic zone, as
recognized by international law.
The
Philippines has called for arbitration through the United Nations to end the
dispute, but China has refused.
Legal approach
In a
press conference after the talks, the Philippine officials stressed diplomacy
when asked what aid they had sought from Washington to bolster Manila's ability
to patrol its waters and deter what they call intrusions.
"The
assistance we have sought is to help us bring the case to international legal
bodies so that the approach is the legal rules-based approach in resolving the
issue in the South China Sea," Gazmin said.
Positive result
In
Manila, Peter Galvez, spokesperson of the Department of National Defense, said
US affirmation of its treaty commitments with the Philippines was one of the
significant results of the Washington talks.
"The
outcome of the discussion was very positive. We have cleared the question,
which is what we want to stress, that our alliance will really be effective,
that they will honor the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)," Galvez told
reporters in a phone interview Tuesday.
The
department took no issue with the US stance not to take sides in the standoff.
"We
do not want to reach the point where we will seek (assistance under) the
MDT," Galvez said.
Peaceful resolution
"We
will continue with the diplomatic track. We stress that we will continue with
the importance of a peaceful resolution of the territorial issue, for a
rules-based resolution, so we will be forwarding it to the UN for
resolution."
Philippine
Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network
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