‘We’re too weak to act on Spratlys intrusions’

MANILA, Philippines—Defense and military officials on Tuesday downplayed press reports that China has built new military outposts in some Philippine-claimed islets in the Spratly island group, going so far as to declare that “no new” Chinese-built structures have been added to the ones detected in the 1990s.

The officials said that in any case the military is too weak to stop foreign intrusions such as China’s expanding presence in disputed territory in the South China Sea so that the only recourse is diplomatic protest.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the reported Chinese military structures on six reefs in the Kalayaan Group, the portion of the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines, were not new.

“This is an old file. Our patrols in the area have not reported new structures so these are old structures. I think this was lifted somewhere maybe from the Internet,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Navy’s 113rd anniversary rites on Tuesday.

A newspaper (not the Inquirer) reported on Tuesday the Chinese military has erected barracks, outposts and garrisons with helicopter landing pads and satellite transmission facilities in six Philippine-claimed islets in the Kalayaan Group, where recent territorial spats have renewed tension.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said the structures were constructed starting in the 1990s.

“They are not new. We are aware of the structures and we will have to ask the cognizant department to take action on those,” he said.

Gazmin said the matter was already the subject of several diplomatic protests which, he said, was all the Philippines can do as the military was helpless in stopping such expansion in the disputed region.

“Until such time that we can upgrade our capability and modernize our Armed Forces, we cannot do anything except to file protest after protest. We do not have the capability to address this. We can only file a diplomatic protest,” he said.

“This is the reality, there’s nothing we can do. We just have to give funds for the modernization of the Armed Forces and the upgrade of our capability, otherwise nothing. We cannot do anything,” he added.

The news report about new Chinese military structures in the Kalayaan Group, as well as a reported sighting of suspected Chinese jet fighters in the area, came as Liang, the fourth-highest ranking Chinese official, was making an official visit here.

China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan claim the potentially oil-rich Spratly island group, which straddles busy shipping lanes.

During their talks on Monday, Gazmin and Liang assured each other they were after a “peaceful resolution” of the Spratlys dispute and would “avoid unilateral actions that would cause alarm.”

Gazmin, however, did not raise with his counterpart the intrusion last March of Chinese Navy gunboats in the Reed Bank in the Kalayaan group.

“The Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and some of the claimant countries have already agreed that we will maintain regional stability here and we’ll have to turn this into an area of cooperation,” Oban said.

He said they are maintaining regular maritime and air patrols in Philippine-claimed territories in the South China Sea. With AP