AMTI Director: China not interested in provoking Duterte

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China squeezing every ounce of chance from PH on Scarborough issue–expert
By: Frances G. Mangosing - @inquirerdotnet INQUIRER.net / 07:25 PM February 02, 2018


China will hold off from building in the contested Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) until they have “extracted as much as they can” from the current administration, a maritime expert said Friday.

“There’s a political decision that if China FEELS right now it is winning, why provoke crisis with the Duterte administration?” Greg Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, told reporters Friday.

Reports circulated last year that China was preparing to build an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal.

But President Rodrigo Duterte is holding on to a promise made by China last year that it will not build on Scarborough Shoal. Filipino fishermen were also allowed to fish in the shoal but with Chinese coast guard ships nearby.

“Last year, [Defense] Secretary [Delfin] Lorenzana said he expects the Chinese to eventually build something over Scarborough. I do, too. It’s a matter of when, not if. It’s a matter of what they built so maybe they won’t build another giant island….maybe it’s a small facility,” Poling said.

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[adroth]

Getting them feel what you want them to feel . . .

. . . while doing something else . . .

. . . is at the heart of statecraft

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https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/destroyer-visit-puts-japan-philippines-military-ties-in-the-spotlight/

Destroyer Visit Puts Japan-Philippines Military Ties in the Spotlight

Engagement caps an active week for bilateral defense relations.

By Prashanth Parameswaran
February 02, 2018

On Friday, a Japanese destroyer arrived in the Philippines as part of a goodwill visit. The interaction was another demonstration of the ties between the two countries in the maritime realm and part of an active week for bilateral defense ties.

As I have observed before in these pages, despite lingering uncertainties and some refocusing following the election of Duterte, Japan-Philippines defense ties have nonetheless continued strengthening in some areas of the maritime realm as part of their broader partnership.

That comes as no surprise. Japan has been looking to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian states, including defense ties. Meanwhile, the Philippine military, including the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy, need all the help they can get from allies and partners like the United States, Japan, and Australia. The Philippines has limited capability to cover over 7,000 islands with a tenth of the world’s coastline amid a series of challenges ranging from the South China Sea to terrorism.

Japan’s assistance to the Philippines includes several lines of effort, from capacity-building to training to defense equipment transfers. One manifestation of this relationship that was in the headlines this week was the maiden deployment of a Japanese-donated patrol pane to a shoal disputed between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. The Philippine military said that the TC-90 Beechcraft King Air aircraft flew around Scarborough Shoal on its first mission for the Philippine Navy without encountering a challenge from the Chinese Coast Guard.

On February 2, in yet another demonstration of the military ties between the two countries, a Japanese destroyer arrived in the Philippines for a three-day visit. The JS Amagiri, which has one patrol helicopter and around 200 personnel, will be in the Philippines until February 4, according to information disclosed by the Philippine Navy earlier this week. This is reportedly the first such visit by a Japanese military vessel to the Philippines for 2018.

According to the Philippine Navy, the destroyer, which was escorted by the PN vessel BRP Rajah Humabon to its designated anchorage area, will participate in a range of activities during its visit. This includes courtesy calls on Philippine officers, a shipboard tour of the JS Amagiri, goodwill activities like basketball and soccer, as well as a Passing Exercise (PASSEX) that will cap off the port visit.

Reflecting on the significance of the visit in what was an active week for Japan-Philippines defense relations, Captain Koji Saito, commander of Escort Division Two of the JMSDF, noted that the visit, along with the transfer of the TC-90s, represented “remarkable proof that shows our strong navy-to-navy relations,” in remarks reported by Philippine media outlets.