Premature to bring up PH-US treaty in Reed issue
Credit to Author: THE MANILA TIMES| Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:13:52 +0000
There is a segment of Philippine society that would, unfortunately, like nothing better than to see the United States dragged into a controversy concerning Philippine-China relations and conflicting claims on the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). They want the US to get involved.
Therefore, to us, the remark by US Ambassador to Manila Sung Kim that the incident involving a Chinese militia vessel ramming a Filipino fishing vessel could trigger US obligations under the PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty looks as both surprising and suggestive.
In another report, the ambassador quoted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as saying “because the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, under the treaty itself, any armed attack on Filipino vessels, Filipino aircraft will trigger our obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty.”
Normally, before a government mentions a defense treaty to address a thorny issue or a conflict situation, a thorough study of the incident in question should first be done to ascertain whether treaty provisions can, indeed, be invoked.
The ambassador himself said the US has no independent information on what happened, adding that it requires a careful and thorough investigation by relevant authorities.
So it is not useful at this point to be talking about whether the provisions of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty will apply in this incident. It is only important that we know the US will honor its commitment to support the Philippines in case of an external attack.
From repeated assurances of both sides, it is clear that the South China Sea falls within the purview of the MDT, and that any armed attack on Filipino vessels would be covered.
But no one should be talking speculatively of an armed attack and aggression by a foreign government with respect to the Recto Bank incident, when there is no such threat.
It seems to us that it should be the principal business of the aggrieved party to be invoking the treaty to seek military assistance from its treaty partner, not the US to be more eager to discuss aggression and a breach of the peace in the South China Sea. It proffers the assurance that Washington fully understands the current situation and will not turn its back on us.
The problem at this point, however, is that we have yet to get a firm grip on the facts of the ramming incident, which can only be ascertained after a full investigation.
Before that certainty comes, comments and discussions about policies will not be useful but could only muddle the issue. They might even tend to make people talk themselves into a crisis.
So far as we can see, there is at this point no crisis as far as our relations with China are concerned. There will be one if we allow other people with their own agenda to dictate on our perception of the situation and the decisions we take.
It is good that the issue is now being studied by the Cabinet clusters. This way there will be more clarity and understanding of the situation.
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