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| Southeast Asia | |
| Philippines downplays US spy plane request | |
| 2012-07-04 | |
MANILA: The Philippines yesterday said the deployment of US spy planes, suggested by President Benigno Aquino, was just one option to monitor the countryÂ’s territory, as China appealed for stability in the region.
China’s foreign ministry, in an embassy statement quoting spokesman Liu Weimin, called on all parties to maintain “peace and stability” in the South China Sea. “We have noticed the reports,” the ministry spokesman was quoted as saying. “It is the hope of the Chinese side that peace and stability can be maintained... and parties concerned do things conducive to regional peace and stability,” the statement said. It did not specify the Philippines or the United States or mention the almost-three month long dispute between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The Scarborough Shoal dispute began after Chinese government vessels blocked Philippine ships from arresting Chinese fishermen near the shoal on April 10. Both countries have been pressing their respective claims to the area with the poorly-equipped Philippines seeking the support of its main defense ally, the United States. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. The shoal sits about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the western coast of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 There are a heckuva lot of islands out there. Now it seems that the Taiwanese are getting into the act as well. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2012-07-04 18:13 |
| #2 "If they happen at all, they are surveillance flights, they are not meant to be provocative. There's no offensive capability here," said the president's spokesman Ricky Carandang. In other words, if Uncle Sam fights China to preserve the territorial integrity of the Philippines, he will have to do so with the Pinoys jeering from the sidelines. The amusing thing is that the Philippines has almost double the GDP of Vietnam but a tiny defense budget and no jet fighters and a gun-armed Vietnam-era Hamilton class Coast Guard corvette for its flagship, even while Vietnam has 200 jet fighters in its inventory and 50 missile- and torpedo-armed frigates, corvettes and gunboats, and 6 Kilo subs due to arrive in 2013. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2012-07-04 16:53 |
| #1 China want's stability? Of what kind? Their rule or none, sounds suspiciously like. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2012-07-04 12:29 |