Beijing, Manila at odds over military base transfer |Admin01 MANILA: China has assailed the plan of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to transfer its air and naval bases to a former American military installation in Zambales province in Central Luzon, warning the move would allow the entry of outside forces and thus, worsen regional tension. “If all related parties resort to military means as Manila has for a resolution, the region will surely become a powder keg,” said Li Guojiang, the deputy director of the Centre for Chinese Borderland History and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in a statement published by the state-owned China Daily. Li was reacting to the AFP plan to transfer its air and naval bases to Subic Bay in Zambales, a former US naval installation, which has been converted into a free port by the government. In his statement, Li also said the move violated the spirit of the code of conduct on the South China Sea adopted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and warned it would increase the risk of conflict in the region. Meanwhile, quoting Manila’s foreign ministry, Reuters on Wednesday reported that Washington would raise its military assistance to the Philippines by about two-thirds, helping its oldest security ally in Asia defend vast maritime borders against what it sees as Chinese assertiveness. Albert Del Rosario said Washington had increased its military assistance package from $30 million next fiscal year to about $50 million, the highest level since US troops returned to the Philippines in 2000. “For military financing, it’s an allocation that is worked out by the US Congress, and its usually for acquisition and maintenance,” Del Rosario told reporters, according to Reuters. On Saturday, Peter Paul Galvez, the spokesman of the department of national defence, confirmed the transfer plan, saying it was already being discussed by senior defence and military officials. Earlier, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin confirmed the transfer plan which militant groups claimed would skirt the constitutional ban on the establishment of foreign military bases and allow the entry of foreign forces like those from the US. But under a Visiting Forces Agreement, American soldiers are allowed “rotational entry” into the Philippines like the conduct of military exercises or war games with their Filipino counterparts. The same agreement also allows the visit of US warships and warplanes to Subic for refuelling and maintenance works.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 01:38:52 +0000