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Showing posts with label u.s. philippines relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label u.s. philippines relations. Show all posts
* In a first under the Duterte administration, Manila says it is prepared to invoke its Mutual Defence Treaty with the US in the face of Chinese aggression
* Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr also vows to continue air patrols over the South China Sea that Beijing has denounced as ‘illegal provocations’
Manila will invoke its defence agreement with the United States if China attacks its naval vessels in the South China Sea, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr said on Wednesday.
His comments mark the first time the Rodrigo Duterte administration has openly declared it would turn to Washington for help, amid ongoing flare-ups between Manila and Beijing in the disputed waters.
Locsin, who appeared on the ANC news channel’s morning talk show, said Manila would continue air patrols over the South China Sea despite Beijing’s calls to halt what it described as “illegal provocations”.
WNU Editor: Would the US go to war if the Philippines provoke a fight with China? Even after all the threats and insults against the from Philippine President Duterte? You tell me.
President Duterte is making it easier for the U.S. to do the right thing.
Rodrigo Duterte, the ever-unpredictable president of the Philippines, has given official notice to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that governs the presence of U.S. military personnel. Among other complaints, he said Americans were rude and failed to leave their weapons after conducting military exercises on the islands. The VFA will conclude in six months, which actually is great news.
Although Americans always believed in continental expansion — even Thomas Jefferson spoke of an Empire of Liberty — “saltwater imperialism” was alien to the nation’s founding. Proposals to turn America into a traditional colonial power by conquering foreign peoples generated strong opposition. After all, Americans had revolted against their British masters.
WNU Editor: My answer is yes. The Philippine President and government have made it very clear that they see no future in having a security arrangement with the U.S.. So why continue it?
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said the United States should enforce the mutual defense treaty (MDT) with the Philippines in the wake of maritime tension in the South China Sea.
"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," he said during a TV interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
President Rodrigo Duterte dared the United States anew to send its forces to the South China Sea to stop Beijing's actions in the global waterway.
"I have a proposal. Kung gusto talaga ng Amerika na paalisin ang China, hindi ko man kaya, manhingi ako ng tulong sa kanya [If America wants China to leave, I can't make them, I will ask for help] ... I want the whole seventh fleet of the armed forces of United States of America there," he told reporters Monday evening.
The 7th Fleet is the part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed in Japan, which covers the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured the Philippines on Friday it would come to its defence if it came under attack in the South China Sea, reaffirming a defence code that Manila’s security chiefs have sought to revise.
Speaking during a stopover after a summit in Hanoi with North Korea, Pompeo said a 1951 Philippine-U.S. Mutual Defence Treaty would be adhered to if its ally was a victim of aggression, and singled out China as a threat to stability.
“China’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threaten your sovereignty, security and therefore economic livelihood as well as that of the United States,” he told a news conference in Manila.
A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits armed with Hellfire missiles and a 500-pound bomb in a hanger at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan March 9, 2016. Josh Smith / Reuters file
The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News.
The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.
If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.
WNU editor: No debate in Congress. The media and pundit class absent. I thought I would never see the day when the U.S. makes the decision to intervene in what is becoming a major conflict, and there is minimal coverage of it. As for the Philippines .... this is an ominous sign that things are going to get worse .... Philippine president to ask Congress for 20,000 new troops to fight extremists(Reuters).
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit back on Friday at U.S. lawmakers opposed to the prospect of his visiting the White House, saying he would never go to the United States, which he called a "lousy" country.
Duterte was responding to remarks by Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern, who told a hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that he would protest against such a visit if U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on an invitation to the firebrand Philippine leader.
The commission, made up of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, convened on Thursday in Washington for a hearing on Duterte's deadly, year-old war on drugs, which has killed thousands of Philippine citizens.
Human rights groups say many of the deaths were executions by police, an assertion the authorities reject.
MANILA — The United States and Philippine navies held a joint naval patrol Saturday in dangerous southern Philippine waters, amid rising international concern about Islamist militancy and piracy in the region.
U.S. Navy combat ship USS Coronado joined a Philippine Navy frigate, BRP Alcaraz, in patrolling the Sulu Sea, where numerous pirate attacks on commercial shipping have been made since 2015.
“Our at-sea operations with the Philippine Navy demonstrate our commitment to the alliance and deter piracy and illegal activities,” U.S. Rear Admiral Don Gabrielson said in a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Manila.
A U.S. P3 Orion surveillance aircraft is seen flying over the town of Marawi city, as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group, who has taken over large parts of the city, Philippines June 9, 2017. Picture taken June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
U.S. special operations forces are assisting the Philippine army in its effort to expel ISIS-affiliated militants from the city of Marawi, Reuters reports, signaling a gradual expansion in the scope of the Trump administration’s intensifying campaign against the jihadist.
Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told the media June 10 that the new U.S. involvement was confined to the Pentagon’s usual “advise and assist” mission, asserting that special operations forces “are not fighting. They are just providing technical support.”
On May 23, 400 local militants claiming loyalty to ISIS stormed the southern capital of the Lanao del Sur province with assistance from “about 40 foreign fights,” Reuters reported. The AFP deployed some 4,000 ground forces backed by attack helicopters and air strikes.
It was enormously controversial that President Trump placed a friendly call to Philippine strongman Duterte on April 29. Now, we can read what they said.
IN A PHONE CALL from the White House late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, one of the world’s most murderous heads of state, for doing what Trump called an “unbelievable job” in his war on drugs. Trump offered an unqualified endorsement of Duterte’s bloody extermination campaign against suspected drug dealers and users, which has included open calls for extrajudicial murders and promises of pardons and immunity for the killers.
“You are a good man,” Trump told Duterte, according to an official transcript of the April 29 call produced by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and obtained by The Intercept. “Keep up the good work,” Trump told Duterte. “You are doing an amazing job.”
Trump began the call by telling Duterte, “You don’t sleep much, you’re just like me,” before quickly pivoting to the strongman’s drug war.
WNU Editor: This is not the first time that President Trump has called Philippine President Duterte where he praised him for his war against drugs (see above video). As for the transcript that has been leaked to The Intercept that records their second and more recent call .... it is from a Philippine source .... so its accuracy and validity is open for debate. But I read the transcript (it is here) .... and my read is the following. There are numerous grammatical errors, but President Trump definitely sounds like Trump in this transcript. He opens up by being polite to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte .... and he praises him for his drug war. This was/is definitely a poor choice of words .... Duterte's war against drugs has been condemned by every human rights groups in the world ,,,, and with cause. But President Trump does get Philippine President Duterte to open up on what was probably the main reason why he called him .... North Korea .... What Trump and Duterte said privately about North Korean nuclear threat. In this conversation the tone changes completely, and President Trump is clearly hoping that Duterte will assist him with China to curtail North Korea. In short .... the Philippine drug war is not what President Trump is focused on .... it is North Korea. Now that this transcript has been leaked to the press President Trump is going to be condemned for this .... and rightly so. But dealing with dictators and murderous authoritarian leaders when you have to is always a difficult exercise .... you have to go down to their level to win their trust. But if this transcript is accurate .... I can confidently say that President Trump definitely knows how to flatter these people to win their trust.
A photo of President Trump grinning broadly and pumping his fist topped the Philippines’ leading newspaper on Monday after news broke that the Mr. Trump had invited President Rodrigo Duterte to the White House.
The invitation stands in sharp contrast to the friction between the populist, plain-spoken Mr. Duterte and the Obama administration. This is the latest example of Mr. Trump’s willingness to engage authoritarian leaders that President Obama kept at arm’s length.
Mr. Trump is slated to be in Manila when Mr. Duterte hosts a summit of East Asian nations. No date has been announced for Mr. Duterte’s trip to Washington.
MANILA - If the United States really wanted to avoid trouble in disputed territories in the South China Sea, it should have sent a fleet to stop China from building structures there, President Rodrigo Duterte said.
In a conversation with US Ambassador Sung Kim earlier this week, Duterte said he was surprised that America did not utilize its navy’s 7th Fleet, which is headquartered in Japan and patrols the Pacific Ocean, to stop Chinese construction activities once they were spotted by reconnaissance units.
“Sabi ko, I am surprised Mr. Ambassador, because had America really wanted to avoid trouble early on…why did you not send the armada of the 7th fleet?…and say to their face, ‘You cannot build manmade structures sa high seas,’” Duterte said in a speech in Mindoro on Wednesday.
US ships and planes could use aircraft carriers or its bases in Guam and Okinawa to patrol the heavily contested South China Sea, suggests Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin LorenzanaDiana Quinlan/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters
Filipino Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says the US could use aircraft carriers or its bases in Guam.
The Philippines has said it is unlikely to help the US to conduct freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea, a military action seen as a way to contain China's claims to the region. Filipino Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has asked Washington to not use Manila for activities against China.
He instead suggested that the US use aircraft carriers or bases in Guam — a US island territory in Micronesia, Western Pacific — or Okinawa, a Japanese prefecture in the East China Sea, to patrol the contested waters.
BEIJING — He says he didn’t start the fight, but he is certainly not pulling any punches.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched another impatient broadside at Washington on Tuesday, threatening a bilateral defense deal that has expanded the U.S. military presence in his country.
The volatile Duterte last week announced his “separation” from the United States, although he subsequently backtracked to say he did not want to cut economic and military ties.
But on Tuesday he was at it again, saying he hated having foreign troops in the Philippines and telling the United States not to treat his country “like a dog with a leash,” the Reuters news agency reported.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands after a signing ceremony held in Beijing, China October 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will seek an explanation from the Philippines for President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement of a "separation" from Washington, the State Department said on Thursday, calling the remarks baffling and at odds with the two countries' close relationship.
Duterte said during a visit to China on Thursday that "America has lost" in military and economic ties with the Philippines and "I announce my separation from the United States."
"We are going to be seeking an explanation of exactly what the president meant when he talked about separation from the U.S.," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "It's not clear to us exactly what that means in all its ramifications." Read more....
WNU Editor: The Philippine President was very blunt .... and considering what China and Russia are offering him, not surprising. This is a pivotal moment in Asia .... everyone is now realising that the U.S. cannot match what China can offer, and in the case of the Philippines it is in the form of financial assistance, investments, loans, trade concessions, etc. .... U.S. has few good options for response to Philippines' Duterte (Reuters). As for President Obama's Asian pivot .... this is a nail in that coffin.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his "separation" from the United States on Thursday, declaring he had realigned with China as the two agreed to resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks.
Duterte made his comments in Beijing, where he is visiting with at least 200 business people to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance as relations with longtime ally Washington deteriorate.
"In this venue, your honours, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States," Duterte told Chinese and Philippine business people, to applause, at a forum in the Great Hall of the People attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
"Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost."
A U.S. navy sailor watches the USS Juneau arrive from the flight deck of the USS Essex at the former American Naval Base Subic Bay, north west of Manila October 17, 2006.REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
Step, while small, is first sign of split in alliance since election of President Rodrigo Duterte.
MANILA—The Philippine defense chief said Friday that he had suspended participation in any joint patrols with the U.S. of the disputed South China Sea, the first concrete sign of a crack in the military alliance following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also said he also would ask a small detachment of American troops providing counterterrorism assistance on the southern island of Mindanao to leave as the president requested. But he said that would happen only after the Philippine military can carry out such operations on its own, something that could take years.
Since taking office June 30, Mr. Duterte has caught U.S. officials and his own military off guard with seemingly off-the-cuff pronouncements with potentially far-reaching strategic implications. His aim, he said, is to loosen ties with the U.S. and give his Southeast Asian country a more “independent” foreign policy, with “new alliances” with China and Russia.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (C) clenches fist with members of the Philippine Army during his visit at the army headquarters in Taguig city, metro Manila, Philippines October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
If it's Tuesday, Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, must be swearing at President Obama.
In a profanity-laced speech in Manila, Duterte lashed out once again at the U.S. for criticizing his self-proclaimed "drug war," saying Obama can "go to hell."
The European Union, he added, "better choose purgatory, hell is filled up.”
Duterte swept to power with a promise to "kill all" the criminals in the Philippines. Since he took power in July, more than 3,000 Filipinos have been killed, either shot in police raids or gunned down by assassins, often after being named by police.
President Rodrigo Duterte wants to avoid upsetting China, with which he wants stronger trade and investment ties.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said joint military exercises scheduled next month between the Philippines and the U.S. will be the last for the longtime allies, as he seeks to avoid upsetting China, with which he hopes to build stronger trade and investment ties.
He also said he would end routine joint naval patrols in the South China Sea.
“I will serve notice to you now that this will be the last military exercise,” Mr. Duterte said to an audience of some 350 Filipinos in Hanoi, where he is on a two-day state visit to Vietnam
Still, the Philippine leader reaffirmed that his country’s cooperation with the U.S. stands. “I will maintain the military alliance—the RP-US pact, which our countries signed in the early 50s,” Mr. Duterte said.
Focus on combating drugs, insurgencies, not patrolling South China Sea
MANILA—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered his defense secretary on Tuesday to seek gear from suppliers in China and Russia to fight drug traffickers and insurgents, signaling an abrupt departure from his nation’s longstanding military reliance on the U.S.
In another possible shift of significance, he also said the Philippines would stop patrolling the South China Sea alongside the U.S. Navy, to avoid upsetting Beijing. Instead, he said the nation’s military would focus on combating drugs and terrorism.
The Philippines has enjoyed close ties with the U.S. for decades, most recently bolstering military cooperation through a 2014 pact. Both Washington and Manila have leveraged their alliance to balance an increasingly assertive China.
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