US Navy official assures PH of support
CHINA’S “aggressive behavior” in the South China Sea, including the use of water canon by its coast guard against Philippine vessels, must be challenged and checked, the commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said yesterday.
Vice Adm. Karl Thomas assured the Philippines of US backing in the face of “shared challenges” in the region, saying: “My forces are out here for a reason.”
The largest of the US Navy’s forward-deployed fleets, the Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan, operates as many as 70 ships, has around 150 aircraft and more than 27,000 sailors. It operates over an area of 124 million square km (48 million square miles) from bases in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
“You have to challenge people I would say operating in a grey zone. When they’re taking a little bit more and more and pushing you, you’ve got to push back, you have to sail and operate,” Thomas told Reuters.
“There’s really no better example of aggressive behavior than the activity on 5 August on the shoal,” he added.
On August 5, a Chinese coast guard ship used water cannon against a Philippine boat carrying supplies to troops aboard the Philippine Navy’s ship, BRP Sierra Madre, which Manila intentionally grounded on a the Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea, a fault line in the rivalry between the US and Beijing in the region.
Thomas said he had had discussions with Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, head of the Philippine Western Command overseeing the South China Sea, “to understand what his challenges are to find opportunities to be able to help him.”
“We certainly shared challenges. So I wanted to better understand how he views the operations that he’s responsible for. And I want to make sure that he understood what I had available,” said Thomas who was in Manila for a port call.
On Saturday, Thomas said he joined a flight from Manila “to go out and check out the South China Sea.”
The Philippines won an international arbitration award against China in 2016, after a tribunal said Beijing’s sweeping claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea had no legal basis.
China has built militarized, manmade islands in the South China Sea and its claim of historic sovereignty overlaps with the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PH-CHINA DRILLS
Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr yesterday said military exercises between Filipino and Chinese troops that China proposed may not push through due to China’s harassment in West Philippine Sea, referring to the August 5 incident.
“Well, because of what they are doing, it (proposed exercises) may not happen anymore,” Brawner said in a radio interview, referring to China’s “coercive and dangerous” actions near the Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal.
On August 5, Chinese ships subjected to repeated dangerous maneuvers and water cannoning two Philippine Coast Guard vessels and two military-chartered wooden supply boats near the shoal, about 108 nautical miles from Rizal, Palawan.
Only one of the supply boats managed to enter the shoal to deliver supplies to the troops who are staying at the rusting BRP Sierra Madre that has been grounded at the shoal since in 1999 to serve as military outpost.
On Tuesday last week, Chinese ships again subjected to dangerous maneuvers two PCG vessels and the same supply boats during a similar resupply mission but did not fire water cannons. The supply boats outmaneuvered the Chinese ships and successfully completed the mission.
“That’s already unlikely (to happen),” said Brawner of the military exercises proposed to him by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian last July 26, during the celebration of the 96th foundation anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army of China.
Brawner has said the proposal would be studied by the Armed Forces.
‘COERCIVE TACTICS’
Yesterday, Brawner said there is a need to tell the whole world what is happening in the South China Sea.
“Recently, we have been successful in exposing the coercive and dangerous tactics of China and because of that we have received statements of support from many countries, including our ally United States and partners like Australia, Japan and South Korea,” he said.
Brawner also said what the Chinese are harassing are resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal.
Reports said the Navy ship BRP Laguna successfully resupplied troops at the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island last Saturday.
Brawner said Chinese ships observed the resupply mission but did not block or harass the operation. He said the Chinese are not usually harassing resupply missions at the island.
Brawner said the military is conducting rotation and reprovisioning missions at Ayungin Shoal and other features occupied by Filipino troops in the West Philippine Sea.
“We have many soldiers there so we need to provide them supplies and we also need to rotate the troops on a regular basis… We need to regularly provide our troops with food, water, gasoline and other supplies,” he said.
Brawner said the military is not using Navy vessels to resupply the troops at Ayungin for “practical reasons.” He said Navy ships cannot go near the BRP Sierra Madre because of shallow waters. If Navy ships will be used, they will have to transfer the supplies to small boats to bring the supplies to troops at Ayungin Shoal, he said.
“So it’s more practical to use the small boats (than Navy ships) right from the start since they can get near Sierra Madre,” he said.
Brawner said the morale of soldiers remains high despite the recent Chinese harassment near Ayungin Shoal.
“In fact many are volunteering to be assigned there. First, they want to experience being assigned in the area. Second, they said they feel that could be their contribution to defending our territory,” said Brawner.
“Third, of course, there is additional allowance if you are assigned there. We have what we call loneliness pay in the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he said.
Brawner said soldiers are entitled to “loneliness pay” if they are assigned to areas that are far from communities.
AFP public affairs chief Lt. Col. Enrico Gil Ileto said the loneliness pay is equivalent to 50 percent of the soldiers’ base pay.
SEACAT
Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy has participated in the US-hosted maritime training activity Asia Cooperation and Training (MTA SEACAT 2023) held in Singapore, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries.
The SEACAT exercise started in Singapore on August 15 and ended last Friday, according to the Philippine Navy’s Naval Forces West (Navforwest).
The exercise “focuses on real-time information exchange, coordinated surveillance operations, tracking, and eventual conduct of visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) to designated maritime vessel of interest,” Navforwest said in a statement.
Aside from the US, Singapore and Philippines, the other participants were Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
“This year’s SEACAT training consisted of shore events in Changi, Singapore, and at-sea phase in different Southeast Asian countries,” Navforwest said.
It said the objective of the exercise was to “enhance cooperation among participating countries and provide mutual support and a common goal to address crises, contingencies, and illegal activities in the maritime domain using standard tactics, techniques, and procedures.”
Navforwest said the MTA SEACAT 2023 exercises held in El Nido in Palawan last Friday involved capability demonstration on maritime air surveillance/intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, and maritime interdiction operations; VBSS; and maritime domain awareness.
“MTA SEACAT 2023 concluded with a developed capability and trust among participating countries to cooperate and provide mutual support in the maritime domain and have equipped PN personnel with the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve the PN’s vision to be a “modern and multi-capable Philippine Navy,” Navforwest said. — Reuters and Victor Reyes
