Posted on 03/03/2005 7:13:20 AM PST by Destro
Philippines: military relations with China do not conflict with any third country
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-03 21:07:22
MANILA, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine military said Thursday that developing military relations with China does not conflict with the interests of any third country.
Armed Forces Civil Relations Service Chief (CRS) and concurrentspokesperson Brigadier General Jose Angel Honrado told the media that "an increased military relationship with China" does not meanthat relations with the United States "have turned sour."
He noted aside from the Philippines, other member-states of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are also maintaining good ties with China.
"I don't see any conflict with the US or any other country in so far as our dealings with China is concerned," Honrado said.
Honrado also confirmed that China has committed around 1.2 million US dollars of assistance to the Philippine military.
"What they are offering is military aid. Most of it will be used in procurement of engineering equipment," he said.
The spokesman did not rule out the possibility of joint military exercises with China, although not in the immediate future.
"It is not yet in the drawing board," Honrado replied when asked of joint military training. "But we are exploring all cooperative agreements with them." Enditem
02 Mar 2005 06:06:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China has pledged military assistance for the Philippines for the first time, underscoring its rising influence in a region traditionally dominated by the United States.
China had promised 10 million yuan ($1.2 million) worth of equipment, including engineering hardware, a source with knowledge of the deal said.
"We in the Philippines welcome China's increasing role in regional and international affairs," visiting Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a speech on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
Romulo on Tuesday ratified a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation signed last November, an embassy official said.
"China is the new big brother...but the U.S. factor still remains," the source, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
American troops pulled out of the Philippines, a former U.S. colony, in 1992. But the two countries maintain close ties and U.S. troops recently helped train Filipino forces in battling Muslim guerrillas in the south.
The United States would remain "the dominant player" in the region, said Shi Yinhong, who teaches international relations at Beijing's Renmin University.
In addition to military aid, China -- until recently a recipient of foreign aid in the wake of natural disasters -- had donated $250,000 to victims of typhoons that hit the Philippines last November and December, a Philippine Embassy newsletter said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Romulo on Tuesday he hoped both countries would improve cooperation, Xinhua news agency reported.
China exported its Communist revolution to Asian neighbours, including the Philippines, in the 1960s, but bilateral relations have improved in recent years and Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit the Philippines in April.
China and the Philippines would hold a security dialogue in Manila as early as April, a diplomatic source said.
When Philippine President Gloria Arroyo visited Beijing last September, a landmark agreement was signed enabling national oil companies from both countries to conduct marine seismic tests near disputed islands in the South China Sea.
China is also poised to invest in the Philippine mining industry.
A Philippine delegation, led by the environment and trade secretaries, held a mining roadshow in Beijing in January and said it had won investment pledges in nickel and other mining projects worth $1.3 billion. The Philippines posted a trade surplus of $4.79 billion with China last year, with exports jumping 43.6 percent to $9.06 billion and imports surging 38 percent to $4.27 billion.
Thanks to Chinese technological support, the Philippines will attain rice and corn self-sufficiency by 2006 and 2010.
This move by China should be properly responded to by the U.S. The Filipino government is making a stupid move here.
"The Philippine military said Thursday that developing military relations with China does not conflict with the interests of any third country."
Not at all, in fact, when they come to take the rest of your islands....just remember those words.
I'll read this later. There's a sale on at Wal-Mart & I don't want to miss the good deals.
Think back to 1995 (or 96), Mischief Reef.
China is an empire - the last empire to exist. In 15 years it will go the way of the Soviet Union with a number of new nations being formed after the breakup a la Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, etc.
Now they have to accept handouts from anyone willing to give to keep their military going at all.
You wish. Empires will exist as long as man exists and America is a bloody empire in its own right in the oresent and near future.
Pretty much, but it wasn't because of the Marcos years.
It had more to do with the fact that they thought we owed it too them.
I guess for protecting them all those years. I don't know why else.
I lived in the PI for 5 1/2 years and was there when Marcos was deposed.
The only people that wanted us out of the bases were the politicians.
The normal people never wanted to see the bases empty and sitting idle.
I remember (and I was a kid and it was a long time ago) the Filipino political establishment being pretty anti-American and paranoid of another American backed coup. Irrational? Yes. But that was the diplomatic eviornment at that time.
Name for me the last empire that punished recalcitrant allies by pulling their troops out of the wayward ally's territory as we are doing in Germany and South Korea?
Empires shift legions all the time - and in the cases you mentioned - legions are still there on their manning modern versions of Hadrian's wall.
You're right the , Philippines are making a stupid move, they are playing a very dangerous game. They are trying to play China against the US in hopes that we will step our benefits. The Philippines know that we will not withdraw support because we need the base there, whatever they still allow. This another job for Condi.
America is not an empire and no empire has ever acted the way we do. We have been pulling troops out of Germany and South Korea in order to show our displeasure with them. Rome never acted that way, nor did the British Empire, nor the Soviet Union, nor the People's Republic of Chinese. As such, your unwillingness to acknowledge those basic facts reflects poorly on your argument.
The US has no base there anymore.
They ARE trying to play the US against China and it IS a stupid move.
Empires are individual in nature in terms of how they function - Athens' empire comes close to what we are now.
Read Thucydides and you will see that we are nothing like the Athenian empire. In particular, read The Melian Dialogue.
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