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Philippines seeks US defence boost amid China row
by Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) April 26, 2012


The Philippines said Thursday it would seek more US military help during top-level talks next week, as it ignored a warning from China not to "internationalise" a tense territorial dispute.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines was looking to the United States to help it achieve a "credible" defence system, and wanted to extract maximum benefits from a mutual defence treaty between the allies.

Signed in 1951, the treaty calls on both sides to come to each other's aid in times of external attacks, and the Philippines has highlighted the pact as it stands up to Beijing over rival claims to the South China Sea.

"We are going to the United States in order to be able to maximise the benefits derived out of this mutual defence treaty," del Rosario told reporters.

"The idea of achieving a minimum credible defence posture is something that we should try to do."

Del Rosario and Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin are expected to meet with their US counterparts Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta in Washington on April 30.

The meeting comes as the Philippines is locked in an increasingly tense dispute with China over Scarborough Shoal, a group of islets in the South China Sea where vessels from both sides have been in a stand-off since April 8.

China on Wednesday warned the Philippines not to "internationalise" the issue and force other countries to take sides.

But del Rosario said Thursday the dispute also impacted other countries that wanted unhampered access to vital sea lanes.

"I think all nations who have an interest in keeping freedom of navigation... should be watching carefully as to what is happening there," he said.

"We would want all nations, including the United States, to make a judgment on what is happening there and what the implications are to their own country," he said.

Del Rosario did not say what specific help the Philippines wanted in the US talks, but defence officials earlier said Manila would ask to acquire a coast guard vessel and F-16 fighter jets.

China claims all of the South China Sea as a historic part of its territory, even waters close to the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Experts say the overlapping claims are a potential flashpoint that could destabilise regional security.

The Philippines has accused China of increasingly being aggressive in staking its claims.

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US says no timeframe on Japan base deal
Washington (AFP) April 25, 2012 - The United States said Wednesday it was moving forward with Japan on a long-stalled deal over a military base but declined to say if an announcement would be ready for a summit next week.

Japanese officials have said that a plan to announce an agreement on Wednesday was postponed, following a complaint by three senators who questioned if the emerging deal on Okinawa island made fiscal and strategic sense.

"Let me say that we have made progress in these negotiations" with Japan, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

But she said that Congress "has to be happy" with the effects on the agreement, particularly on the budgetary implications.

"I'm not prepared to predict right now when we'll go public with where we are. But everybody has their internal procedures, and we're working through those now," she said.

The two governments had hoped to seal an agreement in time for the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to Washington on Monday.

Okinawa has been a longtime source of friction between the Pacific allies as the subtropical island is home to around half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan, who are stationed under a post-World War II security treaty.

Under a 2006 plan, the United States would relocate the Futenma base -- a particular point of grievance as it lies in a crowded urban area -- to a quiet seashore and move 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam.

But a number of activists want to remove the base completely from Okinawa, setting off a political row that led to the downfall of a Japanese prime minister in 2010.

President Barack Obama's administration wants to press ahead with the new base, likely with the Marines heading to Guam as well as Hawaii and Australia.

But three senators -- Carl Levin and John McCain, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as Jim Webb, an active voice on Asia policy -- warned that Congress must give its nod first.

"It is our position that any announcement on this critical matter that goes beyond an agreement in principle at this time would be premature and could have the unintended consequences of creating more difficulties for our important alliance," they wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

The senators voiced concern about the lack of firm estimates on costs, logistical requirements and environmental studies for the plan.



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ENERGY TECH
US, Philippines in war games as China warns of force
Ulugan Bay, Philippines (AFP) April 25, 2012
US and Filipino Marines armed with assault rifles and smoke grenades stormed a South China Sea island Wednesday in war games south of a real-life standoff between Manila and Beijing. The mock beach-front assault took place on the shore of Palawan island in the South China Sea, where for two weeks Chinese patrol vessels have prevented the Philippines from arresting alleged poachers in the dis ... read more


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