BAGUIO — The United States has offered to escort Manila’s resupply missions to outposts in the disputed South China Sea, but the Philippines will not take up the offer until it is unable to deliver live-saving provisions and troops were “on the verge of dying,” Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner said Thursday.
“We’re happy that the US has given us a range of options including that of joining or escorting us for the ROREs (rotation and resupply missions),” Brawner told a news conference after meeting with US Indo-Pacific commander Adm. Samuel Paparo in the northern city of Baguio.
Paparo told reporters that “we stand ready,” without offering further details.
ALLIES The Philippines’ military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner (right) shakes hands with US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo during a joint press conference after the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Board meeting at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio on Aug. 29, 2024. AFP PHOTO
There has been a series of escalating clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the past year during resupply missions to Filipino troops, coast guard personnel and fishermen at Ayungin (Second Thomas), Escoda (Sabina) and Panatag (Scarborough) shoals.
China claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis and defends its actions against Philippine vessels as lawful and proportional.
Philippine and Chinese vessels have collided twice this month near Escoda Shoal, where the Philippine Coast Guard has anchored a ship to prevent China seizing the ring of reefs.
A Filipino sailor lost a thumb in a June 17 clash at Ayungin Shoal when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply its troops there.
The incidents have fueled concerns that the United States, a longtime ally of the Philippines, could be drawn into armed conflict with China due to its mutual defense treaty with Manila.
Brawner said Washington and Manila have discussed options for keeping Filipino personnel supplied with essential provisions even as Chinese ships patrol the waters around them.
For now, however, Brawner said the Philippines had not exhausted its options, and it would continue to conduct resupplies “unilaterally.”
“If nothing works then that’s the time we can ask for help,” Brawner said.
Brawner said Manila had used a helicopter to deliver supplies to the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Teresa Magbanua, which has been anchored at Escoda Shoal since April, to prevent China seizing it.
Paparo told reporters in Manila on Tuesday that the “escort of one vessel is an entirely reasonable option within our Mutual Defense Treaty.”
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