The United States will nearly triple its military funding for the Philippines this year, the Philippine foreign ministry said on Thursday, as tensions rise with China over disputed islands and Washington bolsters its alliance with Manila.
We will also provide some real-time recon data on the South China Sea region to the Philippines. That will help the Philippines make the most of their small forces.
More important than the money are separate transfers of weapons like warships, helicopters, and fighter planes which have taken place, will take place, or are under discussion.
Even more important are agreements to get US forces rotating into the Philippines to keep bases warm in case we need them in a hot war.
If you wonder about whether the Philippines needs this assistance, stop wondering:
A day after President Aquino’s two Cabinet secretaries appealed for help from the United States government for a minimum Philippine “credible defense” against Chinese incursions in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, China flexed its maritime muscle with 23 vessels at the disputed South China Sea shoal while its rival, Taiwan, made public its claim on the contested area Wednesday, further complicating the dangerous 23-day standoff.
Only 4 of the Chinese vessels appear to be warships, with the rest fishing boats or some other type of "small" vessel. But don't forget that the Chinese use civilian vessels aggressively to avoid the risk of using warships.
We can't build up the Philippines to the point where they can defeat the Chinese. All we can do is give the Philippines that "credible" capability to fight at low levels and thus force China to escalate to win and therefore risk drawing in America or Japan.
If China can win this confrontation with the Philippines, it will weaken the perception that we are a reliable partner to resist Chinese territorial claims in the region. I have to worry whether China thinks it needs to take us down a peg before our pivot puts military assets around the South China Sea in Guam, Singapore, and Australia.
