Tension rises over war games
Drill hikes risk of armed conflict, says Chinese military
ULUGAN BAY, Palawan—thousands of American and Philippine troops waded ashore on Wednesday in a mock assault to retake a small island in the South China Sea as tensions bubbled over rival claims to disputed areas rich in oil and gas.
The drill, part of annual USPhilippine war games on the western island of Palawan, comes after the Chinese military warned last week that the exercise raised the risks of armed confrontation over contested areas of the South China Sea, which the Philippines calls West Philippine Sea.
On the weekend, the Chinese newspaper Global Times warned of a potential “smallscale war” between China and the Philippines as a result of a standoff between the two countries over Scarborough Shoal, a group of half-submerged rock formations 124 nautical miles (223 kilometers) west of Luzon.
The Department of Foreign Affairs called the Global Times’ warning “irresponsible,” and declined to comment.
Poaching by Chinese fishermen led to the standoff at the area the Philippines calls Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masincloc (Lower Masinloc), the shallows being part of Masinloc town on the coast of Zambales province.
China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan across the South China Sea, each searching deeper into disputed waters for energy supplies while building up their navies and military alliances.
On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said China was committed to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve sovereignty disputes in the region. But Cui also said China did not start the current standoff.
“We are certainly worried about the South China Sea issue,” Cui told a news briefing in Beijing, saying “some people tried to mix two unrelated things, territorial sovereignty and freedom of navigation.”
The comments come before high-level talks with the Obama administration. China, which claims the South China Sea as its territory based on historical records, has sought to resolve disputes bilaterally but its neighbors worry over what some see as growing Chinese assertiveness in its claims in the region.
US President Barack Obama has sought to reassure regional allies that Washington would serve as a counterbalance to China in the South China Sea, part of his campaign to “pivot” US foreign policy toward Asia after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Philippine military officials sought to play down the exercise. Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, military commander for the western Philippines, said the drill with US troops, called Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder)
“simply means we want to work together, improve our skills.”
The drill coincides with the standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal, west of a former US Navy base at Subic Bay.
Sabban’s area of command includes Reed Bank and the Spratlys, a group of 250 mostly uninhabitable islets spread over 427,350 square kilometers (165,000 square miles) west of Palawan.
The Spratlys are claimed entirely by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.
Oil, gas reserves
Proven and undiscovered oil reserve estimates in the South China Sea range as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the US Energy Information Administration said in a 2008 report. That would surpass every country’s proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.
A Philippine exploration firm, Philex Petroleum Corp., said on Tuesday its unit, Forum Energy Plc, found more natural gas than expected around Reed Bank, where Chinese Navy vessels tried to ram one of Forum Energy’s survey ships last year. The Philippines is due to open oil-and-gas exploration bids in Reed Bank on Friday.
In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi reasserted Vietnam’s claim to the Spratlys and the Paracel islands, known in Chinese as the Xisha islands, further west of Scarborough Shoal in what it calls the East Sea.
“Vietnam is considering and researching all means to resolve conflicts in the East Sea peacefully, including means that make use of organizations with international jurisdiction to find a lasting means acceptable to all parties concerned,” he said in a statement.
Sabban said the military drill was not focused on China. “Never was China ever mentioned in our planning and execution,” he told reporters.
“China should not be worried about Balikatan exercises,” he said.
Nearly 7,000 American and Philippine troops were launched from US and Philippine ships in the simulated amphibious assault to recapture an island supposedly taken by militants.