Reports of China’s military build-up on islands in the South China Sea partly claimed by the Philippines do not seem to worry the country’s top officials.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. when asked at the sidelines of the Senate committee hearing on Chinese presence on waters in Benham Rise, shot back at an interviewer: “ So what do you want us to do, attack them?” When pressed whether China could be deploying missiles and warplanes on the islands facing the West Philippine Sea, Esperon said there’s no cause for concern yet and we will have to wait and see what happens next.
This is our National Security Adviser talking. Esperon should have uttered his complacent remarks during the Senate hearing so he could have been put in place by the senators for his clueless comments.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense officials disclaimed any knowledge of any authority given to Chinese vessels to ply Philippine waters on Benham Rise, an underwater landmass potentially rich in minerals and natural gas.
Esperon echoed the Chinese version of its presence on Benham Rise that it was just innocent passage in international waters. Satellite images provided by allies to the Philippines showed the Chinese ships presence in Benham Rise where they were seen to stay for a month apparently surveying the seabed. This is far from “innocent passage.” Esperon had unwittingly implicated Duterte when he said the President might have given the Chinese permission to survey Benham Rise.
This is akin to abetting the country’s annexation in installment by China. First Scarborough Shoal, then Benham Rise? This is more than flirtation; this is already going to bed with the enemy!
President Rodrigo Duterte, on the other hand, confronted American Ambassador Sung Kim why the US naval forces didn’t stop the Chinese military build-up when it was still going on. Kim met Duterte when the American ambassador came to greet the President on the occasion of the latter’s 72nd birthday.
“Why didn’t the naval armada of the US Seventh Fleet in the Pacific turn around and bomb the military installations?” Duterte asked.
Considering the US interest and concern for the freedom of navigation in the vital South China Sea lanes, it was actually a good question put to the US ambassador.
“It was not my concern then as I was assigned to deal with North Korea’s global threat because of its nuclear development program,” replied Kim.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a three-nation Asian swing, said “military options are on the table” when asked how the US would deal with North Korea’s long-range missile threat against the US, Japan and South Korea.
Are the same options on the table with regard to China’s militarization of the South China Sea? Or will America be as complacent as the Philippines and wait when it’s too late to do anything to stop the Yellow Peril from overrunning the whole of Southeast Asia?
Military options on the table could mean a preemptive strike at North Korean military installations. The same cannot be ruled out against China’s military bases built on man-made islands in the South China Sea. Maybe not now but for sure the US defense bosses in the Pentagon and State Department are studying such an option. The only consideration probably being studied is world opinion and the repercussion on Russia. Will Moscow stand idly by and allow Washington to unleash its full military force?
No one in his right mind wants a third world war to break out. But most wars start without anybody wanting it. Mostly it’s miscalculation on the part of one party who had gone too far in advancing its interest.
US satellite images have shown that China’s military installations on made-made islands in the South China have been completed with an airstrip for war planes and ready for deployment of long-range missiles.
This poses imminent threat to the security of the Southeast Asian region and US treaty allies Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The US-PHL Mutual Defense Treaty of 1956 would be put to a test if the Philippines is attacked.. All those reaffirmation of US President Barack Obama’s “iron-clad” defense of the Philippines would also be on the line. But there is a new US government under President Donald Trump. He may not be as gung-ho to follow Obama’s lead.
The US-PHL MDT of 1956 plus the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed in April 2014 during Obama’s visit to Manila would also test America’s resolve to defend allies if they are attacked.