By Sara Fabunan
Manila Standard Today
Military eyes air, water spaces in disputed sea
Special guest. President Benigno Aquino III delivers his speech during celebrations marking the 114th foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Despite Malacañang’s efforts to downplay the ongoing conflict in the South China Sea, Beijing on Thursday continued its aggressive stance on the issue following a statement from a high-ranking military officer asking the Chinese government to put up “maritime and air spaces” there.
Special guest. President Benigno Aquino III delivers his speech during celebrations marking the 114th foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The latest development happened even as Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing was conspicuously absent during the 114th anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday morning, an affair usually attended by all diplomats stationed in Manila.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhang Hua said Ma was “out of town” and instead sent Chinese Senior Col. Chen Fagming in her behalf. Zhang said Ma would also not be able to attend the 85th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army on July 31 in Beijing.
Ma’s absence has fueled speculation that Beijing is slowly distancing itself from Manila due to their spat in the South China Sea.
People’s Liberation Army Maj. Gen. Lou Yuan, meanwhile, suggested to Beijing that it establish three maritime spaces and three air spaces to underscore China’s military presence in the South China Sea.
“We didn’t clearly define these three maritime spaces in the past, but they will be clarified from now on,” Luo said.
The “air space” or air identification zone, meanwhile, will be tasked to identify and monitor any aircraft flying over Chinese territories.
“The air identification zone serves mainly to identify what model the aircraft is, whether the aircraft is a civilian one or a military one, what country the aircraft belongs to, and so on,” Luo said.
“The defense zone is our country’s air territory, where any hostile aircraft will definitely be shot down if they are trespassing.”
Lou said the classification criteria for the “air spaces” would be set up in accordance with international standards and formulated with references to “relevant” rules and regulations.
“In this way, the defense tasks of the garrison command can go by the book and follow rules and regulations with the reasons, advantages, and controls justified,” he said.
Luo said the establishment of the garrison aimed to “maintain an effective deterrence against those countries with inordinate ambition towards Beijing’s national territories.”
“After establishing defenses in Sansha City, China is bound to arouse a new round of ‘China’s military threat theory’ in the neighboring countries, which we should just disregard,” he said.
The fishery administration and the Navy, according to Lou, are responsible for protecting China’s fishing maritime territories and managing conflict in the South China Sea.
Beijing’s standoff with Manila at Scarborough Shoal may have sparked China’s aggressive claim over the islands in the South China Sea. Last month, it established Sansha City to administer control over the three major islands in the South Sea—the Spratlys, the Paracels and the Macclesfiled Bank–despite strong objections from Manila and Hanoi.
The city government, which is located on the 2.13–square km Yongxing Island, has a small airport, a sea port, roads, a clinic, a post office, a radar and an observatory. Its establishment was followed by the establishment of a military garrison and the deployment of troops from the PLA.
In his speech during Foreign Affairs’ anniversary , President Benigno Aquino III said talks of a possible armed conflict over the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea would only escalate the tensions in the region.
“Let us reiterate: our interest is a peaceful resolution of this conflict,” the President said in an interview. With Joyce Pangco Pañares
http://manilastandardtoday.com/www2/2012/07/27/china-pushes-aggresion/
It’s really pitty for a small and weak country like us.. If American bases was’nt remove from our country, I think this will not happen…
It is a given that our claim to the disputed islands is justified and within the boundaries of international law. By all standards, those islands are Philippine territories. We are indeed a sad victim of bullying by China. The very sad part, however, is that there is not much that we can do about it. As far as I can see all we can do is wipe the blood off our noses after the fight, if we fight at all. The question is, fight with what? I agree with the first comment above that if we did not kick out our ally and protector from our shores things happening now probably would not happen. But that, my friends, is too late now. Here is my suggestion. Instead of fighting over those islands, why don’t we negotiate to partner with China in the development and escavation of the islands riches and avoid any armed confrontation which, I am sure, we cannot win. I am not suggesting an outright give away of what we perceived to be ours. Let us be more realistic, negotiate instead of fight. In my view, we already have lost those islands to the Chinese. Cheers!
Prudee, let’s see, when Spain colonized us, we fought like hell to get rid of them and if it was’nt for the United States we might still be under their rule. Granted that Uncle Sam’s treatment of our country was’nt the greatest but I think they soon realized our county’s potential is something America need. Many people still believed that our country would have been better off if we would have stayed under the leadership of the US, but it’s too late for that now. China will continue to push us just to see how far they can do it and how our country is going to react to it, and right now, they can probably sense that we are not going to do much. Militarily we are doomed, we don’t have anything strong enough to put a dent on any of their warships. I think our government better take this matter to the UN, there’s no guarantee that the UN can do anything, but what the heck, it’s worth a try.
Kasalanan lahat ‘to ni Manuel Quezon, who said, “I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans.”
Kaya, hayan, the Philippines is definitely in hell. If only the Filipino politicians during those times have allowed the Kanos to govern the country, di sana nasa “heaven” tayo sa sarap ngayon. We can go to the US mainland without a visa and a passport, dahil we would all be US citizens. That’s THE dream anyway of every Pinoy, who are here in America now. There won’t be any horrific and extreme poverty that the Motherland wallows in today.
The land would be fully developed and our natural resources dug out and manufactured into finished products that we all could benefit from, and the excess exported to other countries and sold. We could have had modern machineries to farm the land, instead of lethargic, slow-moving CARABAOS out there still tilling the land. There would be minimal corruptions, unlike what’s happening now. There would be plentiful jobs for everybody to have. There won’t be any Filipino OFWs working as caregivers and alilas in foreign lands.
And, of course, as to what’s happening now, the Chinese wouldn’t dare take any piece of land that belongs to the Motherland. And that’s because we would have modern warships and a well-armed, strong military force to fight the Chinese off. On top of that, the Kanos will be right there among us. We would have been invincible. Nobody would dare….
If we sing and scream that Filipinos are “angat sa mundo,” it wouldn’t be a LIE, it would so true!
Do I need to go on what could have been for the Motherland? YES, yes, yes, the Motherland could have remained the “Pearl of the Orient,” instead of becoming the world-renowned “Armpit of Asia.”
Quezon was wrong!
Erap and all those morons who drove away the Americans and their military bases from Philippines were wrong! Kaya, hayan, heto na si Beho, nakatunganga pa rin tayo.
Pareng Jesse, sayang na sayang ang bansa natin. Spain may not have been a good thing for our country because look at some of the countries that they “pissed on”, almost all of them really did’nt do any better. America, on the other hand could’ve been our salvation. Can you imagine where our country would be today if we became either a state or even if we’d stayed just a territory. Look at Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Island and even Samoa, these places are all doing okay. Good economy, excellent education system, their entire quality of life is almost equal that of the US mainland. There’s so much talent coming out of this island we called the Philippines, it’s a shame that almost all of them are being used somewhere else and the ones who decided to stay are using it to enriched themselves by engaging in corruption and taking advantage of the Filipino people themselves. Well, it’s kind of late now. I doubt that Uncle Sam, even if he promised to be on our side would in the event that ambitious country like China decided to get even closer to our shores would really do anything. We had our chances and we blew it.
Prior to Word War between the PHL and China at present, there was nothing like this during GMA’s time.
Probably, some diplomatic string between China and the PHL was broken during the time of P-Noy and the nation seems kept uninformed about it.
I hope the PHL Foreign Affairs department will be able handle the broken relation intelligently.