‘Seeking US help could lead to war’
Credit to Author: RALPH VILLANUEVA| Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2019 16:20:10 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has rejected proposals to ask the United States to help keep the peace in the South China (West Philippine) Sea, saying doing so is not in the interest of Filipinos.
The President said asking the US to wade into the country’s maritime row with Beijing would push the Philippines and China to the brink of a war.
Calling America’s help would be bad for this, the President said.
“I have to protect the interest of my country, the very life of the Filipinos. 110 million [Filipinos.] You know America… Why would you call them?” Duterte said.
“That will all the more bring us to the verge of war,” he added.
Dennis Coronacion, the chairman of the Department of Political Science of the University of Santo Tomas, on Friday said there was no guarantee that the US would help the Philippines in its quarrel with China even if Manila invoked the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) signed by both countries.
“There are questions that need to be answered before we expect positive US response,” Coronacion told The Manila Times.
“ First, does the maritime incident qualify as a situation requiring military assistance from our treaty ally under the MDT? Second, will the prevailing domestic conditions in the US and several geopolitical factors favor US military assistance to the Philippines?” he said.
“In other words, invoking the MDT will not always yield our expected outcome,” Coronacion added.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier said the US could help maintain the balance of power in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Maintaining the balance of power in the WPS will prevent rather than ignite war. Why? No two superpowers would go to war in this day and age of nuclear technology for the simple reason of its ‘zero-sum’ outcome,” Lacson said.
He admitted that even if Duterte wanted to prevent incursions in the country’s exclusive economic zone, the government does not have the capability or the capacity to do it.
However, the senator noted that the US has the capability to defend the Philippines.
“He (President Duterte) forgot that we have a Mutual Defense Treaty with the US and that’s a clear option, not because we are hoping that there will be World War 3 — two superpowers will never want to go to war with each other; but because our only hope is to make China feel the balance of power in the WPS,’’ Lacson said.
Early this week, Duterte acknowledged that Manila alone could not stop Beijing from asserting its claim over the WPS and that going to war with China would be suicidal.
Signed in 1951, the MDT called on the US and the Philippines to lend support in case one was attacked by an external party.
Malacañang earlier said invoking the MDT was “reckless.”
“I think [invoking the mutual defense treaty] is what we can call reckless and premature. Why? Because, there is no act of aggression, we do not know it yet,” Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Wednesday.
He issued the statement after the President was criticized for declaring that the ramming of a Philippine boat near Recto Bank by a Chinese vessel was a mere accident.
The Chief Executive’s statement that China could fish inside the country’s exclusive economic zone also drew condemnation from his critics.
Panelo said the Recto Bank incident was still to be investigated.
“Assuming it is intentional, the next question is, is it sanctioned by the Chinese government? Was it intentional? These are the questions first before making any moves,” he told reporters.
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