China: $500-M US defense investment in PH destabilizing

Lin Jian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson | PHOTO: AFP

China, the world’s second-largest military spender, has warned the Philippines of the growing involvement of the United States in upscaling the capability of its armed forces, saying the recent announcement of Washington’s $500-million defense investment would “destabilize the region” amid Beijing and Manila’s maritime conflict.

Lin Jian, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the United States was not part of the South China Sea conflict and that it had “no right to interfere” in the affairs of Beijing and Manila.

“The Philippines needs to see that ganging up with countries outside the region to engage in [a] confrontation in the South China Sea will only destabilize the region and create more tensions,” Lin said when asked to comment on the US investment during a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

“To seek security assurance from external forces will only lead to greater insecurity and turn oneself into someone else’s chess piece,” Lin added.

The Philippines and the United States are longtime treaty allies. Their 73-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) obligates both countries to come to the aid of the other in case of an armed attack, including in the West Philippine Sea, waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea being claimed by China.

‘2+2’ meeting

Last Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III and State Secretary Antony Blinken announced the investment in Manila after the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.

The four officials said the investment was intended to help the Philippines boost its security capabilities.

“This is really designed to support the modernization of Filipino forces, coast guard as they transition to focus on external defense. We’re building on a lot of progress the Philippines has already made to be better positioned to defend their sovereignty,” Blinken said.

Blinken and Austin both reaffirmed Washinton’s “ironclad” commitment to the 1951 MDT, which they made clear included any attack on Filipino ships.

“Our message for relevant [countries] is that the only proven way to protect one’s own security and keep the region peaceful and stable is to commit oneself to good neighborliness, return to dialogue and consultation and maintain strategic independence,” Lin said.

For credible deterrence

Teodoro said the US funding, including the $128 million investments for Philippine military camps and other sites used for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca), would “serve to secure the Philippines’ credible deterrent posture” against “unlawful foreign aggression.”

Under the 2014 agreement, the United States is allowed to build and operate facilities inside Philippine military bases.

China has also protested the presence of the US mid-range missile system called Typhoon, which Manalo said was only for defensive purposes and that the MFA’s claim that it would lead to an arms race was unlikely.

Lin reiterated that the Philippines was “enabling a country outside the region to fuel tensions and antagonism in this region, and incite geopolitical confrontation and arms race.”

“This region cherishes peace and prosperity, and does not need those missiles and confrontation,” Lin added.

The Typhoon missile system was brought into the country last April for the Salaknib military and naval exercises with the United States. It is land-based and can fire Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile.

While there have been talks of removing the Typhoon from the country at the end of the joint exercises last June, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said that its presence may be extended if seen as useful for future defense needs.

Joint maritime drills

On Wednesday this week, the Philippines and the US navies conducted joint maritime drills in the West Philippine Sea, a day after Blinken and Austin met their counterparts and President Marcos in Manila to boost their countries’ security alliance.

AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the naval drills, which involved the BRP Ramon Alcaraz and USS Mobile, were held in the Philippines’ EEZ, in waters west of Palawan.

‘Strengthen interoperability’

The drills were designed to enhance communication and operational coordination between the two navies, and to strengthen their interoperability “in ensuring maritime security and stability in the region,” he said.

The Philippines and the US started their first-ever maritime cooperative activity (MCA) in the West Philippine Sea in November last year, in the face of growing regional tensions over Beijing’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea.

As the biggest Asian military power, China allocated an estimated $296 billion to its armed forces, an increase of 6 percent from 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

It said that China accounted for half of total military spending across the Asia and Oceania region. Several of China’s neighbors have justified their own spending increases with China’s rising military expenditures.

Big Cambodia donor

In Southeast Asia, China is Cambodia’s biggest military aid donor and has a strong influence on its economy.

Beijing funded numerous military projects in Cambodia, including the upgrade of Ream Naval Base, Cambodia’s biggest naval base. In 2018, China also pledged more than $100 million in military aid to Cambodia.

Aside from military aid, China also funds Cambodia’s infrastructure projects, such as airports and roads; private projects, such as hotels, casinos, and property development; and, moreover, foreign debt.

The Philippines also received military aid from China. In 2018, the Philippine military received Chinese patrol boats and rocket-propelled grenade launchers with ammunition. The Asian giant earlier gave around $3.2 million worth of assault and sniper rifles.

Pledge to Duterte

The following year, the Chinese government pledged to give $19 million worth of new military aid to continue the closer relations between the two countries under the Duterte administration.

The first batch of military equipment, worth around $11 million, arrived in Manila in January 2022. It includes rescue and relief equipment, which was turned over to the Department of National Defense and the AFP.

READ: US to provide $500-M military aid to PH

In 2019, China pledged about $21 million in military aid for unspecified “disaster relief materials” over the next three years to Nepal to strengthen bilateral ties.

Over the past two decades, China is known to have provided military aid to Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu, all Pacific island countries. From upgrading military hospitals and providing uniforms and buses, China has recently provided these countries with more combat-oriented equipment like military vehicles and vessels. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH