THE Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States is not a threat to other countries, President Benigno Aquino III said Friday, even as tensions between Manila and Beijing remained high over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
“The Philippines has a long-standing Mutual Defense Treaty with the US. We have the Visiting Forces Agreement as an adjunct of that. Under the Mutual Defense Treaty, we are obliged to come to the defense of one another, and assist each other in times of need. My question here is: How do we do that if we are not familiar with each other’s resources, equipment, doctrines, and limitations?” said Aquino, in a speech at the East-West Center Association International Conference at the Manila Hotel.
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“The basic logic behind Edca is interoperability, and anybody who is reasonable will see that this agreement is an enhancement of both our countries’ abilities, rather than a threat to anyone else,” Aquino said.
“To my mind, Edca has a very practical purpose for developing our own armed forces: All the modern hardware carries a significant price tag; yet with Edca, we have a chance to try the cutting-edge equipment and see just how suitable they are to our needs, without having to buy them first,” he said.
Aquino said, if the Philippines get to train with the US, a far more advanced force, the country can learn from them.
On the other hand, the US gets to learn how to make do with fewer resources, which in a conflict situation is always a high probability, he said.
“As highly regarded experts in your respective fields, I trust that you will see just how beneficial such a relationship can be for my countrymen and the people of the United States, as well as for our partners; it is, after all, a relationship borne of consensus and a recognition of differences, of shared principles and aspirations, and of a unified vision in building a safer, more productive environment for our peoples,” Aquino said.