Chinese jets buzz PAF patrol planes

[Fozzie Bear]

yep, chinese and vietnamese but mostly chinese illegal fishermen are caught doing poaching and bad fishing technique. Pero laging napapauwi sa bansa nila due to political pressure from the chinese gov't.

Happens a lot of times already in Palawan.

Thank you.

I'm glad someone acknowledges what is happening on their own doorstep.

MARG......please take note!

[Monseratto]

Toothless warning...w/ an air force that has only one functioning C-130 and 4 functioning S-211 jets.

Philippines warns of arms race in South China Sea

MANILA—Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday said he warned the Chinese defense minister of a possible arms race in the region if tensions worsened over disputes in the South China Sea.

Aquino said the poorly equipped Philippine military was no match for China but recent encounters involving military ships and planes in the Spratlys might force Manila’s hand.

“We may not have the capabilities now, but that might force us to increase our capabilities also,” he said.

During the meetings on Monday, Philippine and Chinese officials pledged to avoid “unilateral actions” that could further inflame tensions over rival claims to the Spratlys.

The Spratlys are a chain of atolls and reefs straddling vital shipping lanes in the South China Sea and are believed to lie atop vast oil and gas deposits.

Apart from China and the Philippines, the islands are claimed in whole or in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

In March, the Philippines complained that Chinese patrol boats had harassed a Philippine oil exploration vessel in disputed waters near the Spratlys.

It subsequently filed a formal protest at the United Nations over China’s claims to the Spratly islands and adjacent South China Sea waters.

Last week, the Philippine military said its planes sighted two foreign jets flying over the area.

Local press reports, citing sources, said they were Chinese jets but defence officials said they were too high up to identify.

[ans_lim168]

Don't forget, the Chinese may say it's the OV-10 who is infringing on its territory. Nobody recognizes the Spratlys as part of the Philippines except the Philippines. I think Cong. Biazon is asking the UN to intervene. Unfortunately, he should have checked first if China is a permanent member of the Security Council and has veto powers.

Well that is just what the Philippines has to endure with an absence of a clear and defining rule, there was a "Code of Conduct" before forged by the claimants but I doubt they follow the code. Former Sen. and now Cong. Biazon urged to use the "UNCLOS" and I also doubt they follow this. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto powers, that puts the country in an even greater disadvantage.

Toothless warning...w/ an air force that has only one functioning C-130 and 4 functioning S-211 jets.

Pres. Aquino warning of an arms race? Yes, probably among the China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia.....the Philippines??? Your guess is as good as mine.

[donbuggy]

I'm for raising taxes to pay for an arms race.

OFWs exempted.

[oliver1013]

Arms race na sinasabi niya lahat ng loose firearms at expired licenses kakalapin. Kakulangan sa sasakyang pandagat? i cocomandeer lahat ng mga yachte sa Manilabay kasama yung yung yate ni Menyak..kakulangan sa sundalo lahat ng mga convict bibigyan ng kris at lumang .45 laman isang bala lang sa chamber at una palulusubin parang rambol lang. Pag na machinegun na sila lahat at lubog na ang mga yate, suko na. We've solved the problem of overcrowding of our jails we showed the world we can take on the mightiest power in asia albeit in a losing effort, at least we tried.

[Ry_Tower]

Arms race na sinasabi niya lahat ng loose firearms at expired licenses kakalapin. Kakulangan sa sasakyang pandagat? i cocomandeer lahat ng mga yachte sa Manilabay kasama yung yung yate ni Menyak..kakulangan sa sundalo lahat ng mga convict bibigyan ng kris at lumang .45 laman isang bala lang sa chamber at una palulusubin parang rambol lang. Pag na machinegun na sila lahat at lubog na ang mga yate, suko na. We've solved the problem of overcrowding of our jails we showed the world we can take on the mightiest power in asia albeit in a losing effort, at least we tried.

hahaha puwede :hysterical:

[Tifosi]

Toothless warning...w/ an air force that has only one functioning C-130 and 4 functioning S-211 jets.

Ano namang kayang "capabilities" ang sinasabi ni AbNoynoy? Nahihibang ata siya sa kakalaro ng Modern Warfare! Kung tutuusin cannon fodder na lang yang C-130 at S-211 na gumagana. I just feel sorry for the soldiers who rely on inferior equipment and meager rations and allowances while all the money that is supposedly earmarked for modernisation goes to the pockets of corrupt generals.

[marg]

YES! Really.

I suggest you read up on your own country's current affairs before making sarcastic comments about others who are trying to protect YOUR environment!

Perhaps you should GET REAL and clean your backyard first before claiming that the Philippines is in the forefront of Ecological awareness.

[Ry_Tower]

^ teka OT OT na yan ah.

Tsaka asan yung post na nasa forefront ng ecological awareness ang PI? Nawala ako dun ah...

[Monseratto]

Can't speak loudly if you don't carry a big stick... especially if the other guy can do more with a bigger stick!

Naked aggression
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:17 am | Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

President Aquino told reporters in Brunei last week that a military confrontation between the Philippines and China would be “no contest.” In terms of military strength, China has “a great advantage,” he said. “Even in a boxing match, there’s one and half billion of them, [while] we are barely 100 million.”

All true, of course. But stating the obvious seems totally unnecessary and counterproductive, especially at this time when China seems ready to flaunt its military strength even at the risk of looking like the bully in the block. In an age when colonialism seems like a distant memory, China has been signaling its determination to assert its sovereignty over marine territories also being claimed by its neighbors—by force, if necessary. Pleading helplessness in the face of so much muscle-flexing could only encourage China to conduct further acts of intimidation.

Already in the last four months, Philippine authorities have counted at least six Chinese military incursions into Philippine territory. And on at least two such occasions, the Chinese vessels acted belligerently. On Feb. 25, for instance, a Chinese missile frigate drove away three Philippine fishing vessels anchored on Jackson Atoll by first threatening to shoot them and then actually firing three shots into the water. A few weeks later, in March, Chinese vessels threatened to ram a Philippine-commissioned boat conducting seismic studies at the Reed Bank. Then in May another Chinese vessel unloaded construction materials in Amy Douglas Shoal.

These shoals and atolls are less than 100 nautical miles from Palawan and well within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. As Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda put it, “You are speaking of western Palawan, you are not speaking of the Spratlys,” and Palawan is not a disputed area.

What were Chinese military vessels doing 600 nautical miles from China’s nearest coastline and deep in Philippine territory? China is trying to establish ownership over the whole South China Sea. So what will it claim next, Manila Bay?

China is so confident that it will have its way with its smaller neighbors that it has announced that it would send its biggest oil rig to start drilling in the disputed Spratlys. It dismisses its neighbors claims to the Spratlys by saying there is nothing for them to claim since the area rightfully belongs to China. And consistent with this position, the Chinese government flatly denies that its vessels have intruded into Philippine territory. Chinese officials are saying in effect that China cannot be accused of intruding into its own territory.

But even as China intensifies its show of force, Chinese officials continue to reassure its neighbor that it wants nothing more than peace. In Singapore last Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said his country was committed to “peace and stability” in the South China Sea. He said China would never threaten any country or “seek hegemony.”

Maybe China has a different definition of what constitutes peace, but firing shots over fishing vessels and pushing away research ships are not peaceful acts anywhere. Which is why Filipino officials have lately dropped all diplomatic pretense and has directly accused China of “serious violations of Philippine sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction.” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has said that while the Philippines is committed to follow international laws, the 2002 Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea forged by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, under which all the parties agreed to exercise restraint and refrain from occupying uninhabited areas, was being “aggressively violated.” And because all its complaints have gone unheeded by Chinese authorities, the Philippines is now bringing the case to the United Nations.

Instead of enjoying it like one former foreign secretary advised in regard to another violation of Philippine sovereignty, Filipino officials are now crying rape, and making the whole world know who is doing it. If China believes it can ignore the protests of a small nation with hardly any military capability to speak of, it may yet think differently if the international community is sufficiently roused to condemn its naked aggression.