MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines said war games with the U.S.
that ended April 27 had showcased its resolve to fend off external
aggressors amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.
Philippine
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin also said the 12 days of exercises,
which included more than 6,000 soldiers, had firmed up a 1951 mutual
defense treaty between the longtime allies.
“This training
activity ... demonstrates our unequivocal resolve to support each other
against the threats of external aggression and the enemies of freedom
and liberty,” Gazmin said in a statement.
The exercises were held amid the backdrop of a dispute between the
Philippines and China over a shoal in the South China Sea, with both
nations stationing vessels there for nearly three weeks to assert their
sovereignty.
The Philippines and the U.S. had repeatedly
emphasized the war games were not connected to the Scarborough Shoal
issue, as they were an annual exercise planned well before the latest
flare-up in tensions.
Nevertheless, the Philippines also sought to
use the war games to highlight its military alliance with the U.S. amid
warnings and threats from China over the South China Sea dispute.
One
of China’s ruling Communist Party newspapers ran an editorial calling
for a small-scale war with the Philippines to end the standoff, and its
military on April 26 vowed to defend the country’s territory.
“China’s
armed forces bear the responsibility for the task of defending the
nation’s territorial sovereignty,” China’s official Xinhua news agency
quoted defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng as saying.
China
claims all of the South China Sea as a historic part of its territory,
even waters close to the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast
Asian countries, and hundreds of miles from its own landmass.
The
Philippines says Scarborough Shoal is its territory because it falls
well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, as recognized
by international law.
The Philippines has called for arbitration through the United Nations to end the dispute, but China has refused.
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Agence France-Presse | April 27, 2012 | Article Link
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