New military pact reflects cozier US-Philippine alliance amid jitters over China's rise
Published April 30, 2014
MANILA, Philippines – A new defense pact that will allow thousands of U.S. troops to be temporarily based in Philippines for the first time in more than 20 years signals closer cooperation in the allies' hot-and-cold relationship that has been shaped over the decades by war, terrorism and now, jitters over China's rise.
The 10-year agreement, signed Monday as President Barack Obama arrived in Manila, was considered the centerpiece of his four-nation Asian trip, which Obama used to reassure allies like Japan and the Philippines of American military backing as they wrangle with China in increasingly tense territorial disputes.
Obama said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement showed that Manila and Washington have emerged from a rough period in their alliance.
...
The pact will allow thousands of rotating batches of U.S. forces to gain temporary access to mutually chosen Philippine military camps, paving the way for the largest U.S. military deployment in the country since U.S. bases here were closed in 1992. It will also allow the United States to station fighter jets, ships and surveillance equipment in the Philippines on a limited basis.
China's growing military might and assertiveness in the region has helped bring the two nations closer together.
The Philippines has struggled to bolster its territorial defense amid disputes with China, including the Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the northwestern Philippines that Beijing took effective control of in 2012. Chinese coast guard ships last year surrounded another contested offshore territory, the Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino marines are manning a rusty, grounded ship.
Obama said the defense agreement was not meant to counter China but to promote peace and stability in Asia amid a much-touted "pivot" by Washington to the Pacific. But he made it clear the U.S. would honor its commitment to defend Manila under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.
[Poster's emphasis/indentation]
"Let me be absolutely clear," Obama said at a Philippine army gymnasium Tuesday, standing in front of an assembly of American and Filipino soldiers in combat uniform. "Our commitment to defend the Philippines is ironclad."...
Earlier in his trip, Obama also said the U.S. would obligated to defend Tokyo in any confrontation with Beijing over a cluster of disputed islands in the East China Sea, even as urged all sides to resolve the dispute peacefully.
Former Philippine national security adviser Roilo Golez said Manila wanted the larger U.S. presence to deter China.
[Philippine national security adviser Roilo Golez said:]The countries have had a roller-coaster relationship going back more than a century — including several decades when the Philippines was a U.S. colony.
The U.S. "is surrounding China. It's very obvious even to the most elementary strategy student," he said. "If the U.S. is not there, then the Philippines would be helpless."
America's foray into the Philippines started when it defeated the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, ending more than three centuries of Spanish colonization. But the Philippines was ceded shortly after to the United States and only gained independence in 1946, a colonization that was disrupted by the invasion and occupation of the Japanese imperial army.
After World War II, the U.S. maintained bases in the Philippines for nearly a half-century, but those were shuttered in 1992 amid rising nationalism, and military ties between the nations became virtually frozen.
Territorial disputes with China in the mid-1990s prompted Manila to reach out to Washington.
The Philippines discovered that Beijing has taken control of the Mischief Reef off its western coast and built hut-like structures over the submerged coral outcrops. In 1998, the U.S. and Philippines signed a treaty that allowed large military exercises to resume in the country.
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks brought the U.S. and Philippine militaries closer, with Filipino officials allowing hundreds of American counterterrorism troops to train Filipino soldiers fighting al-Qaida-linked militants in the south.
Relations soured again in 2004 when the Philippines ordered an early withdrawal of its small peacekeeping contingent in Iraq to comply with the demand of Iraqi insurgents who threatened to behead a kidnapped Filipino worker. The decision angered U.S. officials....
...
FULL article @ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/30/new-military-pact-reflects-cozier-us-philippine-alliance-amid-jitters-over/
--------------------------------
COMMENT
The part above:
"standing in front of an assembly of American and Filipino soldiers in combat uniform"Poster took that to mean Obama was in 'combat uniform' (LOL)...but a check of online images would indicate that the soldiers were in uniform. Hmmmm...not as dramatic as it seemed. Reading the article, I thought Obama had gone totally gung-ho. LOL.
Anyway, this is the article that UK censors appear not to want discussed on a message board, in relation to the current US-China talks and in relation to perhaps broader implications (ie what's going down with US-Russian relations).
That's the assumption the poster makes, as the poster is not privy to reasons for censorship of board posts.
While the US is presenting itself any ally aiming to "promote peace and stability in Asia" (much like US-NATO is in Europe (re Ukraine), the Manila national security dude doesn't mince his words (LOL)...says:
The U.S. "is surrounding China. It's very obvious..."For a new spectator of politics, it highly amusing to see how things are played out and what kind of spin the players put on their actions. For veterans of political watching, it's probably not that notable. LOL.
