Tag: Balikatan

Less politics more marine diplomacy – a fix for South China Sea?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Territorial wrangling over who owns the South China Sea has strangled local marine life, say scientists, urging China and the Philippines to set aside political differences and work to save the fish, coral and plants that live border-free.

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Since 2013, China has built artificial islands that cover more than 3,000 acres of the Spratlys, according to U.S.-based policy organisation Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

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A study last December by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative also blamed China’s dredging and clam harvesting for destroying almost 20,000 acres of reefs in the South China Sea.

Less politics more marine diplomacy – a fix for South China Sea?

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) is part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Gregory Poling is director of the AMTI. The same Poling that told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that “Vietnam’s use of cutter suction dredgers is much more environmentally destructive than its previous dredging methods.”

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, Vietnam occupies around 50 outposts, The Philippines occupies nine, Malaysia occupies five, and China occupies seven in the disputed Spratly Islands.

Previously:

China unveils evidences showing Philippine grounded warship at Ren’ai Jiao destroys coral reefs, endangers marine organism

Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea + More

Vietnamese Poachers using Cyanide and Dynamite Fishing in the Philippines’ EEZ

Philippine Coast Guard clarifies ‘assertive transparency’ tact

PH: America, Marcos and AFP can get us nuked

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

IF advocates of the United States’ access to bases of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and US deployment of intermediate-range missiles prove the above headline unduly alarmist, this writer would be most thankful.

America, Marcos and AFP can get us nuked (archived)

Related:

Out-Competing China and Constraining Russia

Forget Hardened Bases, Pacific Conflict Requires Agile Combat Employment, Commander Says

The Plan to Defend Guam from Missile Threats Is Years from Completion: More Investment Is Needed Now

Ground-Based Intermediate-Range Missiles in the Indo-Pacific

The U.S. Alliance with the Philippines

US military, seeking strategic advantages, builds up Australia’s northern bases amid China tensions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

DARWIN, July 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. military is building infrastructure in northern Australia to help it project power into the South China Sea if a crisis with China erupts, a Reuters review of documents and interviews with U.S. and Australian defence officials show.

US military, seeking strategic advantages, builds up Australia’s northern bases amid China tensions

Related:

US military eyes Australia’s Indian Ocean toehold to deter China

SYDNEY – A remote Australian island close to an Indian Ocean chokepoint for Chinese oil shipments is on a list of possible locations for US military construction aimed at deterring China, with the US saying it “may or may not” support American forces.

Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

Germany, Philippines agree to broaden defence cooperation deal + Vietnam Sends Coast Guard Ship To Philippines For Joint Training

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Pistorius is the first German defence minister to visit the Philippines and hopes to finalise the agreement as early as October

Germany, Philippines agree to broaden defence cooperation deal

Related:

Vietnam Sends Coast Guard Ship To Philippines For Joint Training

Philippine and Japan navies held their first bilateral drills in the contested waters, the Southeast Asian nation’s military said in a statement Friday.

YouTube: NATO’s NEW VICTIM: Missiles Deployed, $500M Aid, New US Proxy & Military Buildup|Dr. A.Malingdog-Uy

US Missile Deployment And $500M Military Aid To PH: Defensive Or Offensive Posturing?

US Missile Deployment And $500M Military Aid To PH: Defensive Or Offensive Posturing?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Full video

LAST July 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III dropped by Manila for the Philippines-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue, the fourth such talks since it began in 2012. This is unprecedented because it’s the first time that talks have been held in Manila. Indeed, the PH-US 2+2 dialogue has set the stage for continued and expanded military cooperation, reflecting a strengthened military and defense alliance between the two sides. Before visiting Manila, the two US officials also held talks in Tokyo with their counterpart top Japanese defense and diplomatic officials on July 28 to bolster military and defense cooperation.

US Missile Deployment And $500M Military Aid To PH: Defensive Or Offensive Posturing?

Related:

US missile system may stay in PH after military drill – Army

THE Philippine Army yesterday said a medium-range missile system [Typhon] of United States military may remain in the country beyond September this year, depending on the training needs of Filipino troops.

China-Philippines ties may improve, as long as US stops interfering

Why Are There Fears of War in the South China Sea?

Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

“We were given a warning order to support the Philippines defense forces in resupplying of the Second Thomas Shoal,” Marine Rotational Force — Darwin commander Col. Brian Mulvihill told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday at an Outback training camp in the Northern Territory.

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The Marines have been monitoring events at the shoal over a drone feed, Mulvihill said.

“We were ready to support the Philippine defense forces,” he said, noting that Marines across the Pacific are also ready to back the U.S. ally.

The rotational force can airlift food and water by pushing pallets out of helicopters, he added.

“We can control airspace and aircraft from many nations,” he said. “We provide a range of options if a host nation, through the embassy, requires assistance.”

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Darwin is an excellent platform for launching forces into Southeast Asia, according to Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo. 

“It’s good to see Darwin and Northern Territory being used this way … rather than just as a training area for Marines, Air Force, and Australian and other forces,” he said by email Thursday.

The Marines can offer the Philippines fire support coordination. They can help with logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and guard locations that support Philippine forces operating towards the disputed shoal, he said.

“Of course, Marines can deploy aboard Philippine resupply boats alongside [Philippine] personnel,” he said.

Marine engineers could repair the Sierra Madre at the shoal and Marine helicopters could resupply it, Newsham added.

“A U.S. amphibious ship or two with Marines and their aircraft and other hardware aboard deployed to Second Thomas Shoal would be a serious force — and also sending a clear message,” he said. “Deploying Marines in the Philippines with their aviation, long-range rockets, and other hardware has a political significance in itself.”

Related:

Japan Forum for Strategic Studies

South China Sea: Philippines says to solely run Second Thomas Shoal resupply missions

SeaLight, formerly Project Myoushu

China unveils evidences showing Philippine grounded warship at Ren’ai Jiao destroys coral reefs, endangers marine organism

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

While Manila mulls over filing a case against China with so-called “solid evidence of the damaged coral reefs caused by Chinese actions,” China, on Monday, released a report based on an unprecedentedly extensive and detailed on-site ecosystem survey around Ren’ai Jiao (also known as Ren’ai Reef), with solid evidence showing that the grounded warship has caused damage to the coral reefs and environmental pollution in the South China Sea.

China unveils evidences showing Philippine grounded warship at Ren’ai Jiao destroys coral reefs, endangers marine organism

Related:

(Full text in English) “Investigation Report on the Illegal “Beach” Warship Destroying the Coral Reef Ecosystem in Ren’ai Reef”

Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea + More

Philippines rejects China’s accusation of environmental damage in South China Sea

China has in turn dredged sand and coral to build artificial islands in the South China Sea, which it says is normal construction activity on its territory, but which other nations say is aimed at enforcing its claim to the waterway.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last year found China’s construction activity buried more than 4,600 acres (1,861 acres) of reef.

China claims almost all of the vital waterway, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Greg Poling, from the front CSIS, claims that Vietnam is also building artificial islands.

How the Philippines ‘covertly’ reinforced the BRP Sierra Madre

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

China reveals Philippine Personnel secretly resupplying BRP Sierra Madre by posing as Fishermen

Personally, I think that these “Secret” Operations are being done by the Naval Special Operations Command (NAVSOCOM) of the Philippine Navy (PN) as this seems to fall under their Area of Responsibility.

Remember that the NAVSOCOM Troops were also the ones that were involved in an Altercation with the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) earlier this Month.

PH NAVSOCOM trains with the U.S. Navy SEALs:

Original source
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South China Sea: Philippines’ anti-ship missile base puts Scarborough Shoal in cross hairs (more information)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What the article left out is; to shoot far, the Philippine military needs to see far. However, the Philippines don’t have any over-the-horizon (OTH) radar, military satellites, AWACS planes or other long-range ISR capabilities, to make use of the full range of the BrahMos missile. Without it the missile is limited to the range of its available ISR assets, which are measured in just dozens of kilometers.

However, if a BrahMos missile is ever launched against a long-range Chinese target, it will be easy to guess who would have supplied the essential Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) information and target identification to the Philippine military.

StarBoySAR

South China Sea: Philippines’ anti-ship missile base puts Scarborough Shoal in cross hairs

Even if the Philippines lacks the advanced communications, intelligence, and targeting systems needed to maximise the BrahMos’ capabilities, it could still leverage US support in these areas, Koh said, citing the sinking of Russia’s Moskva warship by Ukraine in 2022, which he said was achieved thanks to “targeting support provided by Kyiv’s allies, chiefly the Americans”.

The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva became the largest warship lost in combat since the second world war when it was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles in April 2022. US officials later told the media that the Pentagon had provided intelligence that led to the ship’s sinking.

For the Philippines, the BrahMos missiles are “significant game changers” [🙄], according to security strategist Chester Cabalza, president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank in Manila.

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However, Don McLain Gill, an international-studies lecturer at De La Salle University in the Philippines, questioned whether the BrahMos purchase alone would deliver robust deterrence against China.

“It will be crucial for the BrahMos to be supplemented by efficient intelligence, surveillance, target-acquisition and reconnaissance, which is critical to track targets and ensure they can be used by command,” he said, warning Manila must invest further to maximise the missiles’ deterrent value.

Previously:

Philippines Builds First BrahMos Anti-Ship Missile Base Facing South China Sea