Filipinos opposed a new
addendum to the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Security
Pact get ready to 'welcome'
President Obama: The return of U.S. forces to
a country occupied for
centuries by foreign powers is not going down easy
in some quarters of the
Philippines.
Aquino Gave Obama 'Everything for Nothing' (The Philippine Star, The Philippines)
"The new security agreement gives U.S. sailors and flyboys
ports and facilities from which to launch ships, fighters, and spy drones. In
exchange, Filipino troops are to receive disaster rescue assistance, some
warfare training, and old equipment that the Americans might have discarded. As
if to highlight the lopsidedness, Obama hesitated about having these same
visiting forces defend the Philippines against Chinese aggression. The feeling
among thinking Filipinos is that P-Noy gave away
everything for nothing."
While opinion polls in the Philippines show wide support for a U.S. military presence to counter China, there is a large vocal minority who finds the presence of a foreign power abhorrent.
Japan
and the Philippines are similar in two respects: Both have mutual defense pacts
with the United States, and both are under threat from Chinese territorial
aggression. So when President Barack Obama began a four-nation swing of East
Asia by vowing to aid the Japanese in case of Chinese invasion, Filipinos
expected to hear the same.
They
were to be disappointed. When asked if America would come to the Philippines'
defense if Beijing makes good on its threat to eject a Philippine Navy vessel
from a nearby shoal, Obama was non-committal.
Obama's
double standard is painfully obvious. In Tokyo, he stated outright that the
disputed Senkaku Islands belong to Japan - so China should lay
off. Six days later in Manila, he quibbled about how America takes no side in
territorial disputes, nor is it out to "contain China," but that he
hoped the latter would "listen to her neighbors."
Obama's
waffling immediately rekindled doubts about America's sincerity and capacity to
fulfill its obligations to treaty allies. It also raises questions about why
President Noynoy Aquino's granted the U.S. a ten-year
stay at Philippine military bases of its choice. Later on, Obama tried to sound
forceful, telling American and Filipino soldiers at joint exercises that
America's defense commitment is "iron-clad." [video below] Still, it
rang hollow, compared to P-Noy's [President Noynoy Aquino] hefty gift of the Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Signed
just hours before Obama arrived, the EDCA supposedly falls under the
implementation of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. That is why P-Noy, risking a Supreme Court fight, sees no need for Senate ratification. This gives U.S. sailors and flyboys ports and facilities from
which to launch ships, fighters, and spy drones. In exchange, Filipino troops
are to receive disaster rescue assistance, some warfare training, and old
equipment that the Americans might have discarded. As if to highlight the
lopsidedness, Obama hesitated about having these same visiting forces defend
the Philippines against Chinese aggression. The feeling among thinking
Filipinos is that P-Noy gave away everything for nothing.
Online Politics Radio at Blog Talk Radio with William Kern on BlogTalkRadio
Arguments
from signatories that the agreement doesn't return U.S. military camps in the
Philippines does nothing to help their position. Before 1991 when the U.S. was
expelled from seven naval and air bases it directly controlled, at least Manila
was paid annual compensation. The U.S. was also compelled to purchase
Philippine goods and hire tens of thousands of locals. Under a mutual defense
treaty that Obama can only pay lip service to, vaguely at that, America will
have free use of Philippine real estate and facilities.
Observers
theorize that Obama's changing tune has to do with the wording of the differing
treaties with Tokyo and Manila. The former, signed fairly recently, binds the
United States not only to help Japan build up its security, but to actually
fight for Japan's territory - mainland, islands, and seas. The latter, America's
first treaty in Asia, refers only to mainland Philippines and America's
Pacific-side territories. But what can "mutual defense" mean, other
than when one party's military, vessels, or facilities comes under attack? It
is a copout for America to invoke neutrality in territorial disputes. In the
case of China occupying Mischief Reef and Scarborough Shoal, even more so.
Under international law, both fall within the Philippines' 200-mile exclusive
economic zone, and 700 miles from China's nearest province.
What looks to have been an extremely large effigy of President Obama
is set alight by Filipinos opposed to the changes being made to the U.S.
-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, outside the Malacanang Palace in
Manila, Monday. The deal will bring large numbers of U.S. forces back.
.
Another
factor are the views of Washington's hawks that Manila is an unreliable
partner. Unlike Japan, which hosts U.S. troops in Okinawa despite local
protests, the Philippine Senate evicted America's bases before the expiration
of a 99-year lease. The Pentagon withheld military aid from Manila for a
decade. In 2004, military ties had barely been patched up when Malacañang
[Presidential Palace], to secure the release of an undocumented immigrant
Filipino taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents, broke ranks with the U.S.-led
global anti-terror coalition.
Yet America,
too, has been unreliable. When China occupied Mischief Reef in
1995 and Scarborough Shoal
in 2012, the U.S. simply stood by. One U.S. admiral had the temerity to scold a
Filipino counterpart for supposedly letting China into Mischief Reef while the
U.S. Pacific Fleet was away. Today, China is gearing to grab the oil-rich Reed Bank off
Palawan, and tow away Navy ship Sierra Madre from Second Thomas Shoal nearby. Last New Year's Day, the province of Hainan,
which Beijing has entrusted with administering its claim over the entire South
China Sea, ordered all foreign fishing vessels to seek permission to sail in
the area. It was like an ocean version of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) China imposed over the East China Sea two months
earlier, and that encompasses the Senkakus and
Okinawa.
America has
remained silent. During his visit, Obama could only say that the United States
supports Manila's filing for arbitration with the United Nations. And this,
despite the generally acknowledged fact that a U.N. tribunal would be unable to
enforce its ruling. Beijing scoffs at its very existence.
Obama slipped
while performing his balancing act. He journeyed to Asia to assure allies of
U.S. fealty, while simultaneously dispelling Beijing's fear of U.S.
containment. He leaves with the Philippines disillusioned with America, and
China infuriated with it. China's official state and communist organs
editorialize that Obama is encouraging Philippine intransigence. Beijing's
warnings of punitive action will add to Manila's worries.
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