Will GIs dare sail closer to Panatag? @PhilstarNews shar.es/xkAnX via ShareThis POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star) | Updated June 23, 2013 KEEPING DISTANCE: We will be searching for the answers to questions playing in our mind as Filipino and American forces conduct a joint military exercise from June 27 to July 2 near Scarborough (Panatag) shoal that China has occupied. Some of the questions: • Will Chinese naval vessels and fishing boats leave Panatag and its vicinity during the PHL-US exercise? (We assume that Beijing has been informed officially by its American friends about the joint exercise.) • If the Chinese are not leaving, how far from Panatag will Fil-Am forces stay away? Not less than 20 nautical miles?(We also assume that while Filipinos do not mind confronting the Chinese while Big Brother is around, we doubt if the United States will risk a confrontational situation). * * * EMBARRASSING: But why will the US not be willing to creep close enough to see the eyeballs of the Chinese interlopers when Washington knows very well that Panatag has always been Philippine territory? Before 1991, US air and naval forces used to hold target and maneuver practice in the Panatag area. Their own geodetic surveys show the shoal lies within Philippine territory. Opinion ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Everybody knows the embarrassing reasons for Washington’s not wanting to cross Beijing at this time — and there is nothing Filipinos can do about China being more important in the US geopolitical scheme of things. We assume this imbalance was explained by US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus when he conferred days ago with defense and military officials led by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, AFP chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista and Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Luis Alano. Filipinos need not be crestfallen. Some American servicemen will say awhile to do civic action work and humanitarian sharing in areas hit by disasters and calamities – as a compensatory way of dramatizing their being our friends in (another kind of) need. [That Man]
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 09:58:53 +0000
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