West PH Sea: US Navy ship spotted near Scarborough amid China ‘patrol’
MANILA, Philippines — A United States Naval Ship (USNS) was spotted near the country’s landmass while China Coast Guard (CCG) was conducting what it considers as a patrol around Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal on Sunday morning, a West Philippine Sea monitor said.
As of 1:37 a.m., the USNS Victorious was located near the Luzon landmass but still outside the country’s 12-nautical-mile territorial sea during China’s “patrol,” previously reported by its state media CCTV, according to SeaLight director and retired US Air Force Colonel Ray Powell.
However, Powell quickly noted that he could not say if there were naval ships from the US and China during their respective activities since warships typically — and could legally — turn off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).
“I can’t track PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy ships though, since they don’t broadcast AIS signals,” Powell said. “I can’t track US Navy ships either.”
“I can track the Victorious because it’s Military Sealift Command (technically civilian) and does broadcast AIS,” he also pointed out.
USNS Victorious is a “surveillance ship.” These ships are usually integrated with US Navy destroyers and maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Related:
Philippines Defends US Missile Deployment as China Calls for Removal
The missile system was not even fired during these exercises. The MRC, also known as the Typhon Weapon System, is a Lockheed Martin design that takes the naval Mk.41 vertical launch system and modifies it for land-based operations.
China has repeatedly asked for the removal of the US missile systems in the region with its defense ministry claiming earlier this month that “history and reality have proven that wherever US weapons are deployed, the risk of war and conflict will rise, and the local people will suffer undeserved suffering from war.”
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Galido has confirmed that negotiations are underway with the US to acquire Typhon. When acquired it would be deployed to defend Philippines’ maritime borders and its “floating assets” of up to 200 nautical miles (370.4 KM), South China Morning Post reported.
Philippine army wants to buy Typhon system, China slams ‘extremely irresponsible choice’
The use of defence platforms such as the Typhon would be in line with the army’s role in the country’s new Comprehensive Archipelagic Defence (CAD) strategy, which calls for a shift towards protecting the Philippines’ maritime borders, according to Galido.
East-West Center – Supporting the Philippines in Kickstarting the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC): The Role of the US-Australian Alliance by Dr. Renato Cruz De Castro
CADC assumes that as an archipelagic country, the Philippines’ land mass is limited while its population is increasing, causing the need for resources to expand exponentially. Since the early 21st century, Manila has planned to survey and eventually exploit the natural gas and oil deposits on Reed or Recto Bank, which is inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
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Jumpstarting the CADC, however, faces two major obstacles. First, the prospective financial cost of this defense concept and the Filipino nation’s inclination to shoulder the enormous bill for the country’s expected increase in defense spending. Second, the willingness and capability of the United States and its other treaty allies to assist the Philippines in jumpstarting and supporting the CADC, both technically and financially.
The Role of the US-Australia Alliance
The CADC incorporates a critical strategic concept from the “2019 AFP National Military Strategy” (2019 AFP NMS) that emphasizes the need for the Philippines to leverage its alliance with the United States and its security partnerships with Australia, Japan, South Korea, and even India as a “specific approach in developing the capabilities of the AFP but also its overall capabilities through training and fostering interoperability with defense allies and partners through bilateral or multilateral arrangements.” The 2019 AFP NMS explicitly emphasizes the importance of the country’s alliance and security partnerships because they provide:
• deterrence against external aggression while the AFP is still developing its military capabilities;
• intelligence sharing in maritime security;
• assistance in the AFP’s capability development efforts, including equipment grants or loans and education and training that can help the Philippine military address internal and external threats; and
• assistance in times of disasters and calamities.
Consequently, the Philippines has been more forthcoming about leveraging its alliance with the United States and security partnerships with fellow American allies.
The United States and Australia stand out as the most capable and willing security partners in assisting the Philippines in developing its capabilities to transform the CADC into a viable defense strategy. The United States is the Philippines’ only treaty ally, based on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. Based on the 2015 Joint Declaration on the Australia-Philippine Comprehensive Partnership, the Philippines and Australia are partners. This declaration formalized a close and comprehensive working bilateral security relationship between the two American allies. Washington and Canberra are also major naval powers in the Indo-Pacific region.
Kickstarting CADC
The emerging and evolving network of alliance and security partnerships among Australia, the Philippines, and the United States show that Canberra and Washington are deepening their relations with Manila beyond holding military exercises and providing military hardware. Instead, they are bolstering the Philippines’ comprehensive national power to transform it into a capable, resilient, and reliable security actor in the Indo-Pacific region. The following measures can enable the three like-minded states to realize their shared goal of transforming the AFP’s capability from one geared for counterinsurgency to one designed for an archipelagic defense posture:
1) Formation of a Trilateral Australia-Philippines-United States (APUSA) Security Partnership that can advise, assist, and equip the Philippines in developing the necessary technical and material capabilities to implement its CADC
2) Inclusion of Australia to the Philippines-US 2+2 Bilateral Security Dialogue and the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Board Meetings
3) Increase in the number of Australia-Philippines-US trilateral military exercises that should be conducted in Australia, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii
4) Invitation of Australian troops to EDCA sites to enhance interoperability among Philippine-Australia-US forces.
5) Engagement among Canberra, Washington, and Manila in a security dialogue on how the Philippines’ CADC can be linked to the First Island Chain defense network that encompasses Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
It would be prudent to capitalize on the latent potential military capabilities and national archipelagic strategies of Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Backed by US and Australian naval and air capabilities, these allied countries can form an interconnected national system of defenses along the first island chain.
This chain could act as a longer and more cohesive archipelagic security perimeter and frustrate China’s expansionist and revisionist objectives in the Indo-Pacific region.
Philippines counting on U.S. investment to help explore for oil and gas in disputed South China Sea
The Philippines is exploring several options in its quest to tap the resource-rich South China Sea, waters that China claims almost in its entirety. The body of water is estimated to hold significant quantities of oil and gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Inviting U.S. companies to invest in the exploration as well as development efforts and discussions with countries like Vietnam that also have overlapping claims with China are among the possible courses of action, he said on March 5.
The Philippines imports almost all its fuel needs and has been trying for years to start energy exploration in the disputed waters, including through a partnership with China. Negotiations between Manila and Beijing have, however, stalled amid heightened tensions, with their coast guard vessels recently clashing again at sea.
Amid stalled talks, China reaffirms commitment to joint oil exploration
U.S. Office of Historian: 353. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to President Ford, Washington, undated.
The Reed Bank is a submerged shelf in the South China Sea about 250 kilometers from the Philippine island of Palawan. The Spratly islands rest on this shelf (see maps at Tab F). Peking, Hanoi, Taipei and Manila all claim title to the Spratly Islands and to the Reed Bank as an extension of the continental shelf of those islands. The Philippines also claim the Reed Bank as part of its continental shelf running from Palawan Island. All of the countries except the PRC have militarily occupied one or more of the Spratly Islands.
The East–West Center (EWC), or the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960, officially to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. It is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The center had long been affiliated with CIA activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Barack Obama’s mother Ann Dunham worked on behalf of a number of CIA front operations, including the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii.
Previously:
Philippine Army acquiring US missile system
What’s Really Going On In the South China Sea Between the Philippines and China
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 