The following piece is a summary of realities as seen by a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy of 1968. (Text was edited; full content will be posted on another page later)

In these discussions, too, we cite the US, Japan and Korea as players in this regional theater - their political and military postures dictated by their respective national interests – primarily economic. We do not foresee Japan and Korea playing active roles and we include in the simulations probable actions by the US as a perceived ally -based on US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).

The problem with MDT is how mutual defense is defined by both parties - threats to Philippine sovereignty may have no bearing on US regional security interests - borne out by US non-involvement in such domestic issues as counter-insurgency operations and the Mindanao problem.

Territorial integrity requires the ability to subject far-flung areas to the scope of our laws and government - geographic realities make this difficult to do - the 1982 Law defining EEZs benefit powerful countries more than they do poor ones as they are better capable of enforcing sovereignty over their EEZs.

Territorial integrity, like laws governing real estate or pieces of land, takes into consideration the concept of possession. Without which there can be no effective ownership. In our country, if somebody else pays taxes on your land for some period of time - he establishes possession, effectively dispossessing you from ownership and courts will rule in favor of the other party - strange, isn’t it?

But strange indeed are the workings of laws - domestic or international. Ownership requires utilization of scarce land and sea resources - where utilization is not done, other parties who can do it acquire best option to utilize, and with it, ownership. For land and other geographic-based resources, being scarce and universal as they are, are common and truly global properties - nobody but everybody owns the surface of the earth and the resources beneath. The EEZ recognizes natural national ownership of territory within a contiguous 200 miles - as a means where by order is established among nations and their quest to acquire limited resources - however, the definition says it accurately - economic zones - not physical or political.

As far as the US is concerned, the Mischief reef issue is regional and domestic to the Philippines - armed confrontations arising from it are not enough reasons for it to come to our aid. Since current US operational doctrines do not show any need for maintaining bases in the Philippines. There is absolutely no justification for the US to interfere -and it never will, unless China invades archipelagic Philippines.

Along this point - we see no material benefit from VFA, to that strategic need arising from EEZ - except availability of training opportunities in the US. (I may be wrong here). The US views VFA as nice to have in conducting amphibious exercises - for which they do not foresee any need - except for very limited special SEAL operations - this is why there is no hard push from Washington for its approval by the Philippine Senate. Current US operations are based heavily on the projection of power through naval delivery systems from vessels as far away as 60 miles from the shore - requiring no need for land-based operations and occupation of land bases. The hard realities of regional economic issues should make us accept them and develop an awareness of the need for self-sufficiency - being the dynamic that drives our military preparedness.

Sovereignty over a piece of reef in the middle of nowhere - ownership of which is premised on a 1982 international law - conveniently disregarded by China with the use of military force, insisting this reef historically belonged to it - is moot and academic based on discussions in the previous paragraphs. The EEZ does not translate to national territory - China's actions are not considered invasion - for it does not take place in, or replaces effective utilization by the Philippines of the marine and non-marine resources in the reef and our country's enforcement of its laws among persons residing in the reef. Furthermore, problems of this nature are almost always subject to negotiation and mediation - they never escalate to shooting wars.

Even if China were a signatory to the 1982 EEZ law - it can, anytime, as it has veto power over UN Security Council resolutions, violate this law. Because international ratification of the law, is presumed as voluntary acceptance by participating nations of the rule of the majority. Such acceptance, as shown in contemporary times - are almost always unilaterally rescinded at will by those who posses political and military power and the national will to use these powers.

The bottom line is - international political and military rules, and economic agreements restrict only those who do not have the means to circumvene them. This is the reality of political power - the ability to influence decision-making over scarce resources. This ability, as shown in Mischief reef, is closely tied to the nation that has easier access and stronger might to insist on this access. On the other hand, full realization of economic benefits from resources within the 200 EEZ depend heavily on our ability to occupy, possess and utilize - all dependent on resources currently available.

I do not see any real political or military issue arising from Mischief reef situation- nor will it result in attracting US interference. The Philippines will lose an economic potential; utilization of such resources was never feasible in the first place. It came about with the newly awakened dragon slowly flexing its muscles - not really spewing flames. But slowly laying the foundations upon which it will seek to attain global supremacy in a few years - impervious to perceived economic limitations.

The US seems to have no future need for a hard presence on the ground in Asia. So does China, and it sees its role much more clearly having in its gloried and historied past. With a vast accumulation of episodic conquests of Asia's plains and countries around neighboring seas. Now having access to nuclear military capabilities - and while the US is prohibited from violating multilateral nuclear disarmament treaties - China is not similarly fettered.

The scenario unfolds in ways that we do not like - in terms we can do nothing about. With prospects too dim for us to reserve any hope. The Philippines is a militarily insignificant country - with a very small speck of stringed islands where the South China Sea. The desire of an expanding China we now fear, and the Pacific Ocean, once symbolic of the US, who we can no longer expect to help us, converge – as we flounder in rough seas with the inexorable march of China near our shores. - Ying 68

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 16:06:22 +0000
From: Balita News
Subject: Marine: AFP intercepts 40 foreign vessels intruding RP territorial waters

AFP intercepts 40 foreign vessels intruding RP territorial waters in 1998.

By Ben Cal

Manila, Jan. 3 (PNA) - Combined operations by the Philippine Navy (PN) and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) last year intercepted 40 foreign vessels intruding into Philippine territorial waters, mostly in the Kalayaan group of islands in the Spratlys and arrested 200 foreign nationals last year, the military said today.

The Navy and Air Force have stepped up their patrols in the Kalayaan claimed by the Philippines which is within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) following an off-and-on intrusions by Chinese vessels since 1995.

Last year, the PAF flew some 1,000 sorties over the Kalayaan Islands Group (KIG) to ward off intruding foreign vessels, while the Navy conducted 7,000 sea patrols in the area.

Most of the intruders were foreign fishermen fishing in the western seaboard of Palawan, a rich fishing ground.

Coordination between Air Force planes and Navy patrol ships has been found very effective.

PAF planes take off either from Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa or from Pag-asa airstrip in Kalayaan to scan the vast EEZ in the South China Sea for foreign vessels intruding into Philippine territory.
Once pilots spot an intruding ship, they radio Navy gunboats patrolling the area to intercept the foreign boat.

China's build-up on Mischief Reef some 120 nautical miles off the island of Palawan, has been a cause of concern by the Philippine government.

Mischief Reef also known as Panganiban Reef is part of KIG. The Philippine government has protested China's intrusion while at the same time continued to explore confidence-building measures to solve the territorial dispute peacefully.

Despite its limited military capability with the suspension of the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Department of National Defense (DND) has vowed to defend the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Philippine coastlines are twice as large as that of the United States, hence the acquisition of new naval ships, fighter planes and surveillance aircraft is necessary for the AFP to fulfil its mandate of protection the country's territorial waters and air space.

The Republic of the Philippines Department of National Defense is guided by five priority programs, namely:

As part of the country's international commitment, the DND last year fulfilled its commitments under existing ilitary cooperations with other countries such as the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Spain, Australia and France.

Military exercises with the United States is part of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty signed between the two countries in 1951.

Pending in the Philippine Senate is the ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which will define the role of American personnel conducting joint military exercises with Filipino troops in the country.
PNA)

Balita site

MISCHIEF REEF, PHILIPPINES, 20-MAR-1999 This photograph taken from a Philippine Air Force reconnaissance plane March 20 shows a newly built three story Chinese concrete fort at (L) and four octagonal structures seen at upper (R) that was first built in 1995 and a wooden bunkhouse in the middle. According to the Philippine military, the structure serves a military purpose and is equipped with a helicopter landing area. The structure is one of the two concrete forts erected by the Chinese in the Manila-claimed Mischief Reef located in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea. China rejected March 22 the Philippine demand to dismantle the structure. [Photo by Romeo Gacad Romeo Gacad/rg, AFP]

http://www.today.com.ph/Stories/1999/Apr/6/06Indi6.htm

CHINA now has effective control over the South China Sea after completing its forcible annexation of the strategic Mischief Reef, a senior lawmaker said yesterday. LAMP Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque cited a recent US intelligence report proving that China has deployed an array of modern weaponry to give it uncontested dominance of the Asian region.

Golez attributed the projection of power over the region to China's "grab and talk" strategy.

"China is now the wolf of Asia, according to an Asian theater expert, former South Vietnam Gen. Thi Lam," said Golez. "The wolf is looking for new lambs to devour, after Mischief Reef, and it is now eyeing other reefs and islets, some much closer to the Philippines, and one, the Natuna Islands, being part of another Asian giant, Indonesia."

Golez, a former Navy captain, believes that the Spratly Island group is China's springboard for extending its conquests. "Its air and naval forces have expanded and it now has overwhelming military superiority compared with other claimants such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan."

Golez, however, shared the view of LAMP Rep. Joker Arroyo of Makati that the United States can check China's expansion in the region with its formidable Seventh Fleet, with or without the Senate's concurrence in the Visiting Forces Agreement.

He also warned the government against China's new ambassador to the country, Fu Ying-the so-called "darling" of the diplomatic circle. For him, the woman diplomat has the dangerous combination of Tokyo Rose and Mata Hari (spies for Japan and Germany) "which spells deceit, lies and more deceit."

"She [Fu Ying] could be a more dangerous adversary than the Chinese Navy because she can sweet-talk her way into the diplomatic circles, the bureaucracy and even the media," Golez said.

"They grab a territory first, then offer to talk after presenting the victim and the world with a fait accompli," Golez said, noting China's diplomatic policy. (Karlo Baylosis)

BUSINESSES run by Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party plan to invest more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) to build a hotel on a Taiwan-controlled island in the Spratlys, local newspapers reported on Monday. The reports quoted Liu Tai-ying, chairman of the party's Business Management Committee, as saying the businesses would make the investment on the Dongsha Island.

This report dovetails neatly with an announcement from Malacañang where President Estrada said yesterday Manila is organizing a sports meet on the Philippines' Pag-asa Island and had already gotten in touch with other claimant countries. "Just to ease the tension."

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said among the early responders were the Vietnamese who suggested soccer instead of basketball.

But Mercado said China is Asia's basketball champion so that the sports event could include both and some others like table tennis where Taiwan excels.

With a mischievous grin, Mercado said a skin diving contest may also be held in Mischief Reef.

The tentative opening of what could be a week-long athletic contest had been set for December 22 this year.

The Spratlys, a cluster of about 60 potentially oil-rich islands in the South China Sea, are claimed wholly or in part by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. Taiwan has military forces on Dongsha, which is not a disputed island.

The newspapers quoted Liu as saying he had suggested Taiwan, China, the United States and Japan develop the South China Sea region together to jointly benefit from its resources, instead of feuding over the Spratlys.

Liu said his proposal had won support from Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui. Officials were not available for comment on Monday, a national holiday.

END