https://www.philstar.com/headlines/...efense-pact-duterte-calls-us-send-fleet-china
US 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) transits in the South China Sea in 2014.
US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Phillip Pavlovich
'Invoking' defense pact, Duterte calls on US to send fleet to China
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(Philstar.com) - July 17, 2019 - 3:33pm
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he was invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty with America for the US Navy to send its 7th Fleet to China, a move that some might not consider defensive.
"I'm calling now America. I'm invoking the RP-US pact," the president said Wednesday on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's "Give Us This Day" program, referring to the 1951 MDT between the two countries.
"I would like America to gather all their 7th Fleet in front of China. I'm asking them now. I will join them," the president said.
The 7th Fleet, headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan, is part of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. According to its website, the 7th Fleet has "at any given time...roughly 50-70 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 sailors."
Duterte said that "when the Americans say, 'We're here now, ready,' I will press them."
RELATED: Sea militia attacks could trigger US obligations under defense treaty
MDT meant to protect against armed attacks
Under the MDT, the parties "separately and jointly by self-help and mutual aid will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack."
They also agree that "an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes."
In his visit to Manila in March, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured the Philippines that any armed attack in the South China Sea will trigger the MDT.
"As the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea would trigger mutual defense obligations under Article 4 of our Mutual Defense Treaty," Pompeo said.
But neither the treaty nor Pompeo mentioned sending ships to confront another nation as a defensive action.
Duterte said he would bring Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario "on the boat where [the] admiral of the US" would be riding and implied fighting would start then.
"Maybe that would be the end of Palawan. Palawan may be devastated, maybe occupied or if there will be nuclear bombs it will dry up," the president, who has insisted that pressing the Philippine claim to the West Philippine Sea would lead to war with China.
Duterte's statements have sometimes been explained away by his spokespersons as expressions of frustration, as hyperbole, or as just jokes. The Palace has said that Duterte's statements should be taken seriously but not literally, meaning they are not always policy statements.
Duterte's mention of the MDT is a repeat of a similar statement made earlier this month.
"They said we have a US-RP pact. Okay. Let America declare the war. Let them assemble all their armaments there in South China Sea.
Fire the first shot and I'll be glad to do the next," he said despite the treaty's defensive nature.
RELATED: 'How?' Duterte asks amid call to keep Chinese out of Philippine EEZ
“This is my challenge, America, Britain, France: let us assemble in Palawan and proceed directly to Spratlys. Let us seize whatever we can seize,” Dutertealso said last month as he said that even the US is afraid of going against China.
"And they want me to put me on the line? They really want to put me at risk," he said then on June 26 after saying he has no way to keep Chinese ships from the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone.
Carpio, whom Duterte has called stupid for criticizing the government's policy in the West Philippine Sea, has said that the president's warning of war with China "is
an utterly false claim, designed to intimidate the Filipino people to submit to the will of China."
https://www.businessinsider.sg/phil...erte-naval-clash-with-china-2019-7/?r=US&IR=T
Philippines’ president calls on US defense pact to back him in a naval fight with Beijing in the South China Sea
Alex Lockie,
Business Insider US
July 17, 2019
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The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord
- Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand president of the Philippines, on Wednesday called on the US to send warships to defend the island nation against Chinese military aggression as part of a decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty.
- A Chinese vessel is accused of ramming a Filipino fishing boat in the Philippines’ waters and leaving the fishers for dead.
- It’s unclear if this attack can be cleanly pinned on China or if the Philippines can demand a US armed response, but the US is under a lot of pressure to flex its muscles, and the Philippines is a key ally that, under Duterte, is increasingly unpredictable.
- China routinely ignores international law as it militarizes artificial islands it built in international waters in the South China Sea, and it has frequently threatened US ships.
Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand president of the Philippines, on Wednesday called on the US to send warships to defend the island nation against Chinese military aggression as part of a decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty.
“I’m calling now, America. I am invoking the RP-US pact, and I would like America to gather their Seventh Fleet in front of China. I’m asking them now,” Duterte said,
according to CNN Philippines.
Duterte referred to the Seventh Fleet, the part of the US Navy stationed in Japan that patrols and operates in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Reuters
His call follows a
mid-June incident in which a Chinese ship rammed an anchored Filipino ship, sinking it and leaving 22 on board adrift in the sea. Those fishers left adrift eventually were rescued, but the issue brought forth a bitter argument and a nationwide reckoning with China for the Philippines.
The Filipino ship had been fishing in Recto Bank, about 100 nautical miles outside the island of Palawan and well inside the Philippines’ internationally recognized maritime borders. China, however, claims the waters as its own.
The Philippines’ aging warships are no match for China’s growing naval might, leaving the US’s Japan-based fleet as its only resort to stand up to China.
The White House did not immediately respond to a query about whether the US has received a formal request invoking the mutual defense pact from the Philippines.
Even if the treaty was invoked by the Philippines, it’s unclear whether the US would consider the fishing boat sinking as an “armed attack” that compels the US to come to its ally’s aid.
From cooperation to crisis
The Philippines has already tried legal remedies to China’s excessive maritime claim by taking Beijing to the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague, Netherlands. The island nation won its case in 2016, with The
Hague ruling that China’s claims were excessive.
The Chinese side called this ruling “waste paper” and has since used a
quasi maritime militia of fishing boats and sometimes armed vessels to muscle other countries out of the lucrative waterway.
Chinese President Xi Jinping promised former US President Barack Obama in 2015 that he would not militarize the South China Sea, which six nations claim, during a trip to the White House.
But China has steadily built military infrastructure and deployed weapons to the islands. Most recently, it tested anti-ship missiles. China now regularly responds with fury to US Navy ships transiting the international waters of the South China Sea, and military officials have threatened to sink US aircraft carriers multiple times.
Read more: China sets the stage for a ‘bloody nose’ attack on US aircraft carriers, but it would backfire horribly
Protesters in the Philippines at a rally against China’s territorial claims in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Dondi Tawatao/Getty
After some flip-flopping within the Philippines over who to blame and how to handle the ship sinking, Duterte on Wednesday took a harder line than ever against China.
Duterte, throughout his presidency, has sought closer ties with Beijing and at times bashed the US and its military alliance. Previously, Duterte spoke in pragmatic terms, saying that standing up to China on its maritime rights would lead to a war that would destroy his country.
But on Wednesday, Duterte signaled he was ready to fight.
‘Okay, let’s bomb everything.’
The US military, together with our allies and partners, has the capability to achieve this objective quickly, precisely, decisively, and in ways that control escalation. US Navy
“I will join them,” he said of the US Navy, according to CNN Philippines. “I will ride on the boat with admiral of the US, but I will drag along Carpio and the rest of the – Albert. When the Americans say, ‘We’re here now. Ready?’ Ready. I will press the ,” he said.
Duterte was referring to Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who has advocated for the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea.
Previously, Duterte had said something similar without invoking the US-Philippines pact.
“When they enter the South China Sea, I will enter. I will ride with the American who goes there first. Then I will tell the Americans, ‘Okay, let’s bomb everything,'”
he said on July 8.
The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet typically has roughly 80 ships and submarines, which represent some of the service’s best naval assets, but China has spent years modernizing its military to defeat US systems and ships. It’s unclear if the Seventh Fleet alone could realistically cow China, which views the issue with a fiery intensity and describes it as a challenge to its sovereignty.
Can the Philippines start a US war with China?
Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson recently affirmed that the US would defend the Philippines in the event of an armed attack from China under the 68-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila, the Philippines’ capital, and Washington, but it’s unclear if that applies in this case.
China is known to operate a maritime militia of ships that aren’t officially part of its military but act aggressively toward foreign ships in an effort to defend China’s expansive claims.
China’s use of “gray-zone” tactics is meant to inject deniability into conflicts such as the sinking of the Filipino boat. Also, a simple ramming may not qualify as an armed attack.
US officials have warned that the Mutual Defense Treaty could be invoked after an attack by China’s maritime militia, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
saying that “any armed attack on Philippines forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea” will trigger it.
The US is also under a lot of pressure to stand up to China and reassure its allies in the region, making this case demand some sort of response, even if it’s short of war.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dip...-beijing-us-call-south-china-sea-crisis-talks
No reply from Beijing to US call for South China Sea crisis talks
- Admiral Philip Davidson slams Chinese muscle flexing over disputed waters
- No response to ‘standing ask’ for a communication mechanism to reduce threat of miscalculation
Lee Jeong-ho
Published: 5:00pm, 19 Jul, 2019
Updated: 11:07pm, 19 Jul, 2019
TOP PICKS
An aerial view of reefs in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where the US is calling for crisis communication mechanism to reduce the threat of a military miscalculation. Photo: AFP
A senior US military commander has slammed Beijing for flexing its muscles over the South China Sea, and for not responding to Washington’s call to set up a crisis communication mechanism.
Admiral Philip Davidson, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, struck a cautious note at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Thursday over China’s growing military influence in the region.
Davidson said Washington and Beijing were having an “ongoing dialogue” at the military level, but a crisis communication mechanism was needed to reduce the threat of miscalculation.
“[Being] competitive does not mean don’t engage. We do engage at the military level,” he said. “[But] the US has a long-standing request with China. For me, to have a crisis communication with the Southern Theatre Command, which manages the South China Sea, and [China’s] Eastern Theatre Command … they have yet to respond to that ask.”
China and the US are locked in dispute over military deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. Beijing has protested against US freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea, while the US and China’s Southeast Asian neighbours are concerned about China’s military build-up there.
Davidson confirmed Washington’s commitment to a continued US presence in the disputed South China Sea, which he said was not to assert US claims but to resolve disputes peacefully and preserve rule-based order.
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“Many other nations support our freedom of navigation operations quite strongly, despite China’s protests,” Davidson said, noting that five of America’s mutual defence treaty alliances were in the Indo-Pacific region.
China denies US accusations of South China Sea missile tests
Davidson also noted that Beijing had conducted a missile test soon after Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe delivered a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June, in which he defended the militarisation of reefs in the disputed South China Sea as China’s “legitimate right”.
Davidson criticised Beijing’s military ambitions in the South China Sea, describing Wei’s Singapore speech as “quite chilling for everyone in the audience”.
“Not only did he make it clear that he didn’t think Asia and the western Pacific was any place for America, he basically said that Asia wasn’t even for Asians [but] it was for the Chinese,” Davidson said.
Davidson also noted that another speech by Wei earlier this month – to a gathering in China of defence officials from Latin America, the South Pacific and the Caribbean – had also been closely followed by a Chinese military exercise.
“A couple of weeks ago Minister Wei, again speaking to a forum of Latin American and Pacific island defence ministers from Oceania, made it clear [the Belt and Road Initiative] was indeed a way to put a military foothold in other places around the globe,” Davidson said.
“Within hours of that they shot six anti-ship ballistic missiles – new ones – that they have developed into the South China Sea. Once might be a coincidence, but seeing this happen twice is indeed a message, not only to the US but indeed to the whole globe.” Davidson said.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: US admiral slams lack of response on crisis mechanism
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907171076274248-philippines-duterte-south-china-sea/
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Duterte Urges US ‘to Gather All Their Seventh Fleet in Front of’ Beijing Amid S. China Sea Dispute
© REUTERS / Dondi Tawatao
Asia & Pacific
16:25 17.07.2019Get short URL
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Earlier this month, Duterte warned Washington about the consequences of a possible military conflict with Beijing over the islands of the South China Sea which apart from China are also claimed by seven nations in the region. The US, for its part, conducts so-called “freedom of navigation” missions in the area.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signalled his readiness to invoke Manila’s Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT) with Washington
amid tensions over the South China Sea.
“I’m calling now America. I’m invoking the RP-US pact. I would like America to gather all their Seventh Fleet in front of China. I’m asking them now. And I will join them", Duterte said in televised remarks.
He was referring to the bilateral peace deal signed back in 1951 that stipulates both countries supporting each other in case of an attack by an external party.
© AP Photo / Francis Malasig/Pool Photo
Chinese structures and an airstrip on the man-made Subi Reef at the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea are seen from a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane of the Philippine Air Force, Friday, April 21, 2017
Duterte also pledged to drag the critics of his position on the South China Sea dispute to go to war with him, citing Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, and former Foreign Affairs chief Albert del Rosario.
“I will ride on the boat where admiral of the US [is based] . But I will drag along this Carpio and the rest of Albert. When the Americans say, ‘we’re here now’, ready, I will press the (button)”, Duterte claimed.
The remarks come about a week after the Philippine president urged the US to remain committed to the MDT and vowed that Manila would support Washington in its possible conflict with Beijing over the matter.
“Now I say, you bring your planes, your boats to the South China Sea. Fire the first shot and we are just here behind you. Go ahead, let’s fight. We have an RP-US pact, so let us honour it. Do you want trouble? OK, let’s do it”, Duterte said, warning at the same time that “we can never win a war with China”.
Earlier,
Duterte urged China to actively participate in the development of a code of conduct for operations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea warning that "the longer it takes" the greater the chances that the region will become a "flashpoint of troubles".
He also confirmed his previous statements that Manila is powerless to affect China's behaviour at sea, but added that he is "sad and bewildered" by Beijing's actions. He also questioned the legitimacy of the Asian country's claims to the territory, disputed by a spate of other states.
Apart from Beijing,
the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands, which are among the more frequently disputed territories in the South China Sea, are also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Beijing has established de facto control over the Paracels since 1974.
The US, in turn, regularly sends its military vessels to the area to carry out so-called “freedom of navigation” missions, in what Beijing slams as provocative moves, urging Washington to stop the practice.
