ShareThisThomas airs stand
as Beijing defense
chief visits Pnoy
MANILA – Continued incursion of China in the disputed Spratlys group of islands have heightened tensions there, especially between the Philippines and China, two of six countries which claim part or the whole of the Spratlys.
The tension triggered concerns from the United States government which said it will respond in case of any armed conflict to settle the disputes.
The United States warned it will not tolerate any unilateral action, especially military, to resolve the dispute over ownership of the Spratly Islands.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Vietnam are also claimants of Spratlys.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr., however, insisted that and there should be peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Thomas also made it clear that even though the Philippines is an ally of the US, the American swill strictly observe neutrality. Thomas’ statement is in sharp contrast to earlier statements by US officials that US will assist the Philippines on the dispute.
Philippine patrol planes reported sighting last May 11 of two unidentified foreign fighter jets near an island occupied by Filipino troops raising concern among Philippine government leaders.
Pilots of two Philippine patrol planes failed to identify the jets, which were at a higher altitude and made no hostile moves.
Earlier on March 2, the Philippine government accused two Chinese patrol boats of harassing a Filipino oil exploration ship into leaving a vast area called the Reed Bank.
The brewing tension was the subject of dialogue between President Benigno S. Aquino III, China’s Defense Minister General Liang Guanglie, Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines when Minister Liang visited the Philippines.
The officials of the two countries agreed during their dialogue that any conflict “should be settled amicably by opening the lines of communication, dialogues and sitting down and talking to each other.”
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes the Philippines and three other countries that claim the Spratlys, signed a non-binding accord with China in 2002 that discourages aggressive behavior.