Harassed for months by the Chinese navy in its territorial waters, the Philippines wants to give itself the means to defend itself. Thus, the Philippine army announced on December 24 that it was considering definitively acquiring an American Typhoon missile system installed on its soil since last April in order to protect its maritime interests. This project was immediately qualified as “arms race” and “dangerous provocation” through Beijing.
American missiles
“It is planned to acquire this system because we see its feasibility and functionality in our concept of implementing the defense of the archipelago”Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said at a news conference. This land-based missile launcher “average capacity”developed by the American company Lockheed Martin for the United States Army, has an average range of 480 kilometers, although a longer-range version is under development.
Maritime skirmishes
“It is our strictest right to defend our resources, our national identity and our territory,” General Eduardo Ano, the Philippines’ national security adviser, defended General Eduardo Ano, the Philippines’ national security adviser, at a conference in Manila last month. Faced with the numerous maritime skirmishes which are increasing in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of his country between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels, General Ano judged “Manila’s responsibility to maintain peace, stability and freedom of movement in these maritime spaces”. By all means.
For its part, China, through its Defense Minister, Dong Jun, judged last June that the deployment of these missiles was “seriously undermines regional security and stability”. And China reiterated its opposition to this project on Wednesday, believing that it fuels a “arms race” in the region. The acquisition of this “offensive strategic weapon” East “a provocative and dangerous act aimed at (…) create regional tensions and fuel geopolitical clashes,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing.
China has no “historical rights” to this area
The Chinese state claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite an international decision in 2016. In an unequivocal verdict, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague found that China does not has no “historical rights” over the majority of the strategic waters of the South China Sea, vindicating the Philippines’ claims.
The CPA has deemed certain actions of the People’s Republic of China in the region illegal and says it has “aggravated the argument” by its activities on the disputed islands, while having damaged the environment. Beijing rejected the arbitration, reasserting its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands.
“China allows itself to say that it is the Philippines which provoke it, analyzes Ray Powell, a specialist in Asia at Stanford University in California, but with its maritime militias, its coast guards and its hordes of fishermen, it is China which is the aggressor. » In his eyes, “China is waging a real imperialist war which aims to annex Philippine island territories”.