Pending Acquisition of 12 FA-50 Fighter jets from Korea –Rethink after series of crashed killing pilots

A model of the FA50 jet fighter of South Korea is seen in the 2012 Air Power symposium.

Philippines still keen on South Korean fighter jets but held while waiting for the result of investigations for the cause of the 2 incidents.

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is closely following developments in the crash investigation of the T-50B lead-in jet fighter that killed two pilots recently, in light of earlier plans to work out with the same manufacturer the purchase of a dozen FA50 jet fighters with the same platform.

The aircraft is billed in one article that reported the crash as "South Korea's first indigenous supersonic aircraft jointly developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin."

The government is pushing through with its plan to acquire 12 FA-50 fighter jets pending a probe on a recent crash involving a similar aircraft, which killed two South Korean pilots, the defense department said.

"(The process of) acquisition is still continuing. Until we get the outcome of that particular investigation (on the crash), the process is continuing at the moment," Peter Galvez, spokesman for the defense department, told reporters yesterday.

When asked if the mishap could jeopardize the plan to acquire the jets from South Korea, Galvez said: "I believe all factors will be considered."

A representative from KAI met some officials of the Department of National Defense last Friday, sources said.

Meanwhile, PAF spokesman Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol said the command had learned that the Air Force of the Republic of Korea (ROK) was also doing a parallel probe.

KAI is reportedly attributing the crash to "pilot error".

Okol said the latest crash "is still under investigation of the ROKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force)."

On PAF's plan to acquire the FA50, Okol said this is among the issues to be "taken up with the manufacturer" and that officials will make sure "that all issues [are] resolved should we proceed with the planned acquisition."

Indonesia reportedly ordered 16 T-50s in 2011; and that Seoul is also pursuing a contract from Iraq.

Meanwhile, the DND has not indicated if President Benigno Aquino III will approve the contract to acquire the FA50, for which ₱18.9 billion is being set aside for 12 units.

The money will be sourced from the ₱75 billion approved by President Aquino for the upgrade of the Armed Forces' capability for territorial defense.

Certain defense and military experts had earlier doubted if the FA50 is the best option for PAF in terms of territorial defense.

It will be recalled that in his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, Mr. Aquino criticized the decision of military officials to acquire, for ₱2.8-billion, eight brand-new Sokol combat utility helicopters from Poland's PZL Swidnik. Such aircraft, said Mr. Aquino, are not really fitted as combat helicopters.

The government plans to acquire 12 FA-50 jets for ₱18.9 Billion from South Korea to boost the Air Force's territorial defense capabilities. The government is expected to start talks with supplier Korea Aerospace Industries soon.

Concerns on the viability of the FA-50 have been raised after a similar jet trainer crashed near Gwangju, South Korea on Aug. 28. It was the second crash involving a T-50 jet in less than a year. In November 2012, a T-50 crashed "into a mountain…killing a pilot,"

The FA-50, the model of the jets that the Philippines is planning to acquire, is a variant of the T-50.

The defense department's Bids and Awards Committee had approved the terms of reference for the acquisition of the jets. If everything goes as planned, at least 2 would be delivered before the end of the year and the full delivery of the remaining jets would be completed before the Aquino administration steps down in 2016.

With report from Interaksyon and ABS-CBN News 

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China Starts Building New Military Garrison in Panatag off Zambales Province of the Philippines – Aug 31

 

"We have ... sighted concrete blocks inside the shoal which are a prelude to construction," Gazmin said, displaying air surveillance photos of the rocks.

Photos were taken on Saturday (August 31), describing them as a worrying pattern of construction that would be similar to the building of a garrison on Mischief Reef in the late 1990s.

"First rocks, then a pile-driver, then a foundation," Gazmin told reporters after his testimony. "When you get back again, if you don't survey, there will be a garrison."

China is preparing to build a structure on an uninhabited piece of land in Panatag Shoal, an exclusive economic Zone of the Philippines an a violation of a 2002 DOC regional agreement.

The Philippine armed forces saw three Chinese coast guard ships and concrete blocks in the Scarborough Shoal as of Aug. 31, Gazmin told a congressional hearing in Manila today. The move contravenes a 2002 declaration between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to refrain from occupying land in the South China Sea, he said.

Friction over the South China Sea, which Philippines called "West Philippine Sea" in its 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone, one of the world's most important waterways, has surged as China uses its growing naval might to assert its vast claims over the oil- and gas-rich sea more forcefully, raising fears of a military clash.

Four of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Vietnam and the Philippines, have overlapping claims with China.

China and the Philippines accuse each other of violating the Declaration of Conduct (DoC), a non-binding confidence-building agreement on maritime conduct signed by China and ASEAN in 2002.

Philippines Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told a congressional budget hearing in Manila that China had violated the DoC by getting ready to build new structures on the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

The tensions heighten after Aquino reject China's demand to withdraw the Arbitration case in the United Nations one of the conditions raised by China set for him to attend a trade fair. The Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, lacks the military force to deter China from controlling disputed waters that may contain oil and gas reserves, and has asked the United Nations to rule on disputes.

"The important thing is we put men there, so this can be prevented," Gazmin told reporters. "We don't have the capability to do that at the moment."

Asked about Gazmin's remarks, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a briefing today he had no information about the matter.

China has accused the Philippines of illegally occupying Ayungin Shoal, where Filipino troops have been stationed after a naval ship ran aground in 1999. The Philippines and Vietnam reject China's map of the sea, first published in the 1940s, as a basis for joint exploration of oil and gas.

'Chinese Hands'

Moves by China to build a structure on the shoal contrast with a softer tone taken on the territorial disputes since President Xi Jinping took power in March, according to Li Mingjiang, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Any structure would likely be a shelter for fishermen or an observation station rather than a military facility due to its remote location, he said.

"It wants to have a small concrete structure installed there just to let the world know it's under Chinese control, it's in Chinese hands," Li said. The Philippines is unlikely to risk using force to halt any construction because it would give China an excuse to take other disputed land features under Filipino control in the South China Sea, he said.

Sea Rules

The non-binding 2002 Asean-China agreement calls on parties to peacefully solve disputes and refrain from "inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features" in the South China Sea. China and Asean agreed to start talks this month on a legally binding code of conduct for the waters.

The Philippines asked the UN in January to rule on its maritime disputes with China, a move that leaders in Beijing oppose. China had demanded the Philippines withdraw its arbitration request for Aquino's planned visit this week to go ahead, the Associated Press reported yesterday, citing two Philippine officials it didn't identify.

China's foreign ministry on Aug. 29 urged the Philippines to work with China "to restore healthy and stable development of bilateral ties," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

"China has always treasured friendship with the Philippines," the ministry said, according to Xinhua.

Chinese ships have restricted access to the Scarborough Shoal since a standoff last year with vessels from the Philippines. The shoal is about three times closer to the Philippines than China, Aquino's government said in an arbitration note.

The Philippines may give the U.S. access to military bases, including Subic Bay in Zambales province north of the capital, Gazmin said on Aug. 30 during a briefing in Manila with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. U.S. naval forces occupied Subic Bay before they were forced to leave after the Philippine Senate ended their lease contracts in 1991.

China's biggest violation yet of the 2002 declaration - China said it's for Peace

 

Regional security scholar Ian Storey said that if Gazmin was correct, it would mark the biggest violation yet of the 2002 declaration.

"If China starts building at Scarborough, then it is an occupation and, I believe, the most egregious violation yet of the 2002 declaration," said Storey, who is based at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies.

"It is a very significant development indeed and one that will certainly add to tensions."

Speaking at a China-ASEAN trade fair in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said his country was serious about wanting a peaceful resolution to the South China Sea disputes, though signalled it was in no rush to sign a long-mooted accord to replace the DoC.

After years of resisting efforts by ASEAN to start talks on an agreement on maritime rules governing behaviour in the region, the so-called Code of Conduct, China has said it would host talks between senior officials this month.

Li said China had always advocated talks on the South China Sea on the basis of "respecting historical reality and international law".

"The Chinese government is willing and ready to assume a policy of seeking an appropriate resolution through friendly consultations," Li told the audience, which included Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

China would "proceed systematically and soundly push forward talks on the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea", Li said without elaborating in comments aired live on state television.

He also repeated that talks on the dispute should only be carried out between the parties directly concerned, Beijing's standard line which rejects the involvement of outside parties such as the United States or multilateral forums.

Washington has not taken sides, but Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated in Brunei in July the U.S. strategic interest in freedom of navigation through the busy sea and its desire to see a Code of Conduct signed quickly.

Critics say China is intent on cementing its claims over the sea through its superior and growing naval might, and has little interest in rushing to agree to the Code of Conduct.

(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Nick Macfie)

News reports sources: RFTBP, Bloomberg and Yahoo News

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Philippines Rejects China's Demands for President Aquino’s Visit in the Expo “inimical to our national interest”

Nanning International Exposition Center

Philippine President Benigno Aquino rejected conditions China set for him to attend an expo in the country, adding to strains over territory in the South China Sea that both claim.

"The president stood firm in the defense of the country's national interest," Raul Hernandez, spokesman for the Philippines foreign affairs department, said in an e-mail. He didn't provide details of the demand, saying he didn't want to embarrass China.

The dispute over the invitation to the China-ASEAN expo in Nanning, where the Philippines is the country of honor this year, is the latest irritant to repairing ties as the two sides refuse to budge over their territorial dispute. The Philippines wants the United Nations to arbitrate the dueling claims, an idea that China rejects.

Citing two Philippine officials it didn't identify, the Associated Press reported yesterday that China had demanded the Philippines withdraw its arbitration request for Aquino's visit to go ahead.

Hernandez called China's demands "absolutely inimical to our national interest." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei refused to comment on the issue at a briefing yesterday, referring reporters to Foreign Ministry statements last week.

On Aug. 29, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the Philippines to work with China "to restore healthy and stable development of bilateral ties," the official Xinhua News Agency reported at the time.

Following is  DFA's full Q & A on the CAEXPO

Was the President invited?

The annual China-ASEAN Exposition (CAEXPO) is an ASEAN-China cooperative event and the usual practice is for the leader of the country of honor to be present. ASEAN countries had strongly urged the Philippines to send the country's highest official to highlight the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN-China strategic partnership this year. Although the President does not need to be specifically invited, the documents we have on the DFA website will show that he was, in fact, invited.

Were there any concerns and conditions from China for the President's attendance?

There were subsequent concerns and conditions to the President's attendance and such conditions were absolutely inimical to our national interest. To avoid embarrassment on the Chinese side, we will not state these conditions but you may wish to address this specific question to H.E. Ambassador Ma Keqing.

Under what circumstances were these conditions conveyed?

These concerns and conditions were delivered by at least three Chinese Foreign Ministry sources. We were advised that these conditions (1) should not be made public and (2) should not be discussed at Ministerial level.

Given the unusual request and the importance of the issue involving our President, it was necessary for the conditions to be confirmed by the two Foreign Ministers at their meeting in Beijing last Wednesday, 28 August 2013.

Did the President accept these conditions?

The President stood firm in the defense of the country's national interest.

Was the President given appropriate and timely advice on the issue?

As in all matters of foreign policy importance, the President is regularly advised in a timely and confidential manner.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")

With report from Bloomberg and Yahoo News

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