The head of the US Pacific Fleet has said the US is “ready” to help the Philippines resupply a grounded naval ship in the South China Sea, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday.
In 1999, the Philippines intentionally ran a World War II-era ship aground on Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, to reinforce their territorial claims to the waters.
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said that China “frequently” interferes with Manila’s attempts to resupply personnel who are stationed on the grounded ship. “We stand ready to come to the Philippines’ assistance, in their exercise of their sovereign rights,” Paparo said.
Paparo said that so far, the Philippines has not requested the help of the US Coast Guard and Navy. If American vessels do help the Philippines with resupply missions, it risks dangerous encounters between US and Chinese vessels. Philippine officials have previously said that they’re in talks with the US on running joint patrols in the South China Sea.
The South China Sea has become a potential flashpoint for a war between the US and China. Paparo’s comments come after Manila said a Chinese ship blocked a Philippine coast guard vessel near Second Thomas Shoal, which is controlled by the Philippines and also claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In response to the incident, the US reminded China that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine boats in the South China Sea.
According to Nikkei, Paparo expressed interest in a multilateral framework that would include Japan and Australia to maintain security in the South China Sea, another step that would raise tensions with Beijing. “When we are operating together, the deterrent quality of those patrols from those ships increases many-fold, because it demonstrates the solidarity of the alliances,” he said.
Washington and Manila recently inked a deal to expand the US military presence in the Philippines, which gives the US access to four new bases, and the two countries recently concluded their largest-ever joint military drills. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is currently in Washington, and he and President Biden are expected to announce new steps to increase cooperation.
I don’t see this Ship anywhere.
ok philippinos grounded their ship on an island 24 years ago and planted their flag.
and they are still being resupplied to this day.
“this land is our land, this land is our land, from the west of our land to the east of our land, this land is our land this land is our land – this land was made for me and me”
i wonder; how close is their sovreign BS to the uncle sam’s Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests.
what
Guthrie was a Stalinist, phony and would even be considered a racist by today’s standards. Check this out: https://www.laweekly.com/little-known-fact-woody-guthrie-was-a-big-ol-racist/
Here’s something re. US bases there. Close them then build new ones, the American Way of squandering our hard earned wages taken out every payday as taxes, for what?. https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/former-us-bases-in-the-philippines-prompt-mixed-feelings/
“On September 16, 1991, the Philippines Senate rejected a proposed extension of the basing agreement by a 12-11 vote. The extension had prompted an impassioned debate in which the bases were attacked as a symbol of the country’s continued colonial-like dependency on the U.S., which had ruled the Philippines as a colony prior to its independence in 1946. After considering putting the bases agreement up to a popular referendum, President Corazon Aquino gave the U.S. until the end of 1992 to vacate the site.”