Posted on 08/07/2013 3:14:47 PM PDT by Lorianne
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged support for Philippine maritime forces on Saturday as both countries confront China in separate territorial disputes.
Following a meeting with President Benigno Aquino III in the Philippine capital, Abe announced that Japan will provide a concessional loan to build 10 coast guard patrol boats for the Philippines.
The Philippines has already received two coast guard ships from the United States as it seeks to build a deterrent naval force after China took control of a disputed shoal off the northwestern Philippines last year.
China's assertiveness to lay claim to most of the South China Sea after decades of relative calm has alarmed Manila, which has turned to the United Nations to seek international arbitration. Beijing has indicated it won't cooperate.
In a statement issued after their meeting, Aquino said that the two leaders reviewed security challenges both countries face and promised to cooperate to push for "responsible action from international players," in a reference to China.
He said that maritime cooperation with Japan was a pillar of the countries' strategic partnership.
Abe said that a key element of Japan's efforts to revive its economy and promote regional peace and security lies in closer relations with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
ASEAN includes the Philippines and Vietnam, both of which have disputes with China in the South China Sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
FYI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Philippine_Navy
The Philippines currently has two frigates and several smaller vessels. One of the frigates appears to me to be from the ‘50’s or ‘60’s (comment, Navy guys?)I’d guess nothing they have is modern enough or capable enough to act as a deterrent against a Chinese force.
Clearly, they are not sitting on their luarels and they are sending strong messages to the Chinese. They are not going to let China push around the smaller ASEAN alliance nations.
Their Atago AEGIS Destroyers, their Kongo AEGIS Destroyers, their Akizuki AEGIS-like Destroyers, their Hyuga Class carriers and the new Izumo Class carriers are vessels that when task forced together ican form groups that are capable of handling the Chinese.
about 40% of them look pre-60 era ships, you can tell by the bow design
One of them looks very modern coast guard style, but if it is like ours, it doesn’t have heavy naval weapons like vert launch tubes, etc... very basic
It may sound terrible, but could you imagine all of the jobs that would return from the Philippines and Red China if a general war starts over there?
Throw in India and Bangladesh, and Detroit would re-open tomorrow!
Looks like Japan is finally going to get its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere after all!
And this time it won’t be a bloody mess!
Damn, how times and attitudes change.
The PI “inherited” a lot of the South VN’s navy after the war. Most were used up junk, but they were able to salvage some of them and incorporate them into their force.
I was in Subic in ‘75. The number of SVN boats in the bay was unbelievable.
The Philippines air force and navy are not nearly where they should be, they are kind of a bad joke
Indeed! Many Americans don't understand that many Japanese thought they were creating an umbrella to protect Asians against European/Caucasian interests in the 1930's. The "mother" country China was too weak, so Japan would do it. Unfortunately for them, they did it by force in WWII. Their military got too big and arrogant. Now it's the Chinese military that will become big and arrogant, and the Japanese may slow them down (they can't hold them off for long by themselves). Interesting times ahead.
Historically, the Phillipines have relied on the USN for naval security. But, as the world is beginning to realize, you can’t rely on Obozo for anything.
Well, the country as a WHOLE is not up to snuff in so many ways. And that's sad because they have the resources and an industrious population.
But a look at the infrastructure, and the lack of modernity in the "backwash" of the country, compounded by the hodgepodge of cultures and languages that make up the PI, explains a lot about why their military is not where it really should or could be.
I'm not sure, but I vaguely remember that there are about 700 different dialects in the whole country. Someone correct me if you know for sure.
Now, we have the Christians in the north, the mudslimes in the south, and a whole LOT of everything else in between.
With help, the country can and probably will succeed. I hope so, because I do like the PI and its people. They had always treated me decently, and were generally a friendly bunch.
On a parting shot, the PI has another problem that may or may NOT rear its head: Most of the economy is driven by a very large population of ethnic Chinese. On a good day, things are quiet. On a bad day, stores get burned.
That’s an interesting turn of history.
Their largest export is workers.
“About the only US corporation jobs in the Philippines are those in “Call Centers”.”
Whatever they call them, I know people who were downsized on Wall Street when their jobs were sent to the Philippines. I believe they were the back office for large investment firms.
My wife is from Mindanao, and she always says there are 85-87 languages & dialects. All Filipinos learn Tagalog (the language of Manila) and English in school so they can understand each other; in my wife’s neighborhood the local language is Cebuano, so she had to know three languages to get around all right.
Re: “Japan Vows Support For Philippines”
Well, that’s comforting.
What’s next?
Germany Vows Support For Israel?
Some of those jobs were outsourced because India didn’t have enough English-speaking customer service agents to handle them. I have also heard that South Koreans go to the Philippines to learn English, or hire Filipinos to come to Korea and teach them, because travel between those countries is a lot easier than traveling to and from the United States.
Filipinos are the second largest immigrant group in America.
They also are the most “Conservative” immigrant voters.
Unfortunately, that means they “only” vote 55% for the Democrat Party.
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