America urged to boost Philippines Military Armaments amid Spratlys dispute

The vintage and poor armed Philippines stands-up in spite of china’s bully. The country is in trouble to find sources of fund to upgrade their armaments to gain respect from the invading neighbors and were forced to ask help from the Washington through MDT which signed last August 30, 1951.

Recently, the cutter class was turnover by the USA to the Philippines and gains China’s revulsion and warned the Philippines from arm building in the Spratlys – Philippines Territory.

China has already erected structures in the Philippines Territory  the Spratlys which the Philippines government could not push them back as they are equipped with more sophisticated war weapons.

The Philippines indeed is the only rusting bolt that hinder china from controlling all over Asia. Without and Philippines; China would already control all over spratlys and around ASEAN countries. The Philippines serves as the remaining gateway of the ASEAN countries which needs to be strengthen to stand against china’s invasion in the region.

A key official of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, exhorted the United States’ policymakers to “help provide the Philippines the military wherewithal to withstand Peoples’ Republic of China pressure."

Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation, said in a “WebMemo" that the U.S. “may very well find itself in a position where it cares more about the security of the Philippines" than the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The policy commentary comes less than three weeks after the U.S. Coast Guard turned over a Hamilton class warship to the Philippines. The Philippines bought the 115-meter cutter for about P450 million with funds from the Malampaya natural gas project royalties.

Lohman acknowledged ASEAN as “the most logical, neutral forum for regional diplomacy," but he also criticized it as a multilateral grouping that “consistently wins on engagement and loses on substance."

“That is not a formula can trust with its interests," according to Lohman.

Lohman urged U.S. officials to pursue “more direct avenues… which prudent use of ASEAN Forums can supplement."

“America’s principal interest in the South China Sea is freedom of navigation, and its most effective instrument in this regard is the U.S. Navy," Lohman stressed.

He said ASEAN has “deeply ambivalent" stance about China’s ascendance as a regional power and affects the regional group’s effectiveness in addressing conflicting territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Lohman also disparaged the ASEAN’s Bali agreement, forged only last July, as a set of confidence-building measures that produced only “meager results" and conceded to China’s approach to “vociferously" reject multilateral solutions.

“All the 2002 [Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea] agreement did was provide the opportunity to set aside ASEAN’s disagreements with China for the cause of broader, lucrative economic engagement. The July 2011 Bali guidelines simply kick the can down the road again. And for this, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan called it an “historic" achievement," Lohman opined.

He also noted that effectiveness of ASEAN is also affected by the fact that its chairmanship is rotated “through a number of cautious and/or China-deferential countries, such as Cambodia, Brunei, Burma and Laos."

The Heritage Foundation official advised America to “keep its alliance network front and center" and urged U.S. officials to “look for ways to expand bilateral strategic partnerships, with Vietnam and India in particular."