AFP sends more troops to guard Spratlys

Agence France-Presse

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The Philippines has deployed 800 more Marines and opened a new headquarters to guard its interests in the disputed Spratlys islands

PAG-ASA ISLAND. An aerial photo shows Pag-asa Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) located off the coast of western Philippines on July 20, 2011. AFP PHOTO / POOL

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has deployed 800 more Marines and opened a new headquarters to guard its interests in the disputed Spratlys islands, which China also claims, a senior military official said Sunday, September 30.

Straddling vital shipping lanes and believed sitting atop vast reserves of mineral deposits, including oil, the Spratlys chain in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) has long been considered a flashpoint for conflict in the region.

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

Lt Gen Juancho Sabban, appearing to want to assuage Beijing in particular, said the deployment was only meant as a defensive measure and should not be seen as an aggressive move.

“These two battalions which arrived recently will be augmenting protection of our islands,” Sabban, who heads the military garrison which has jurisdiction over the Spratlys, told AFP.


View Spratly Islands in a larger map

“We are just on a defensive posture and are ensuring the defense of our islands. It is better to defend than retake islands once other claimants occupy them.”

He said a Marine brigade headquarters had also been created on the nearby Philippine province of Palawan, facing the South China Sea, “to provide command and control” over the forces.

The Marines will not be stationed on the Spratlys but will patrol nearby.

Sabban accused China of continually fortifying its structures on islands in the Spratlys that Beijing controls, though at present “no claimant countries have manifested any offensive action”.

“We are not there to create a situation where it will lead to an accidental conflict and escalate into a regional problem,” Sabban stressed.

China, which is in a dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, has been accused of ramping up tensions in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Vietnam over the past year raised alarm over Beijing’s assertiveness.

China claims all of the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, even waters close to its Asian neighbors.

Sabban’s announcement came just days after incoming Chinese leader Xi Jinping met a special Philippine envoy and expressed hope bilateral ties would improve.

The meeting was set months after both sides were locked in a tense standoff in Scarborough shoal, another outcrop in the South China Sea north of the Spratlys. – Agence France-Presse

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