US will help Philippines ‘defend itself’—Secretary Clinton

US SUPPORT. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Philippine's Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario meet with reporters at the State Department in Washington, Thursday June 23, 2011. AP

“We are in discussions with the government of the Philippines about what their needs are because it is up to them to decide how to deploy forces and what their highest priorities are…But we certainly wish to do what we can to support the Philippines in their desire for external support for maritime defense,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, after meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario in Washington D.C.

Clinton said supporting the defense of the Philippines would mean “finding ways of providing affordable material and equipment that will assist the Philippine military to take the steps necessary to defend itself.”

With the growing tension on the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine government has vowed to “do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action.”
Del Rosario said while the Philippines want to maintain peace, China’s response to the country’s diplomatic protests “have been unacceptable.”

“We are concerned about the aggressive intrusions being made by Chinese vessels,” he said. “And in the last couple of months, since February 25th, we actually have noted as many as nine intrusions of different varieties, but clearly becoming more aggressive and more frequent.

Del Rosario said the Philippines responded to these intrusions by filing diplomatic protests.

“We are concerned about the direction these events may be headed…while we are a small country, we are prepared to do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action in our backyard,” Del Rosario said.

He added that the Philippines made clear its position on the issue: to maintain peace while allowing for the economic development of the area.

“There is need to segregate the non-disputed areas from the disputed areas. What is ours is ours, and what is disputed can be shared,” Del Rosario said.

Clinton meanwhile said the US supports the ASEAN China declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea. She said the US government is also prepared to support the initiatives led by ASEAN and work with the South China sea claimants to meet their concerns.

The Aquino government already used “West Philippine Sea” to refer to the waters west of the country where the Philippines has overlapping territorial claims with five other nations. It was previously called “South China Sea.”

The islands are claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.