Manila alerts its forces near Spratlys
Manila alerts its forces near Spratlys
MANILA (Reuters): The Philippines said on Wednesday it had placed its forces near a Chinese-occupied reef in the South China Sea on alert but told them to avoid a military confrontation.
Manila also said that Philippine President Joseph Estrada would raise the issue of China's alleged build-up of facilities on Mischief Reef, part of the disputed Spratly Islands, when he meets Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Kuala Lumpur next week.
"I don't want to call it a worse scenario because that means war, and we don't want war," armed forces chief General Joselin Nazareno told reporters, referring to his order placing navy and air force units stationed near the Spratly Islands on alert.
The Philippines last week accused China of raising the stakes in the Spratlys by building what Manila said were potential piers capable of taking in big ships on Mischief Reef.
Believed to be sitting on oil and gas deposits, the Spratlys are claimed wholly or in part by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Manila insists the reef, about 185 nautical miles of southwestern Puerto Princesa city, is within its territory.
Beijing says it has owned all of the South China Sea since ancient times and ejected Manila's demand to dismantle the facilities which it says are only shelters for fishermen.
"We gave notice that this (the Mischief Reef row) will be an item for discussions between President Jiang and President Estrada," Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said, after summoning Chinese ambassador Guan Deng Ming for the second time in six days.
Jiang and Estrada are to meet on Nov. 17 on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the Malaysian capital, Siazon said.
Guan denied Philippine accusations of "a creeping invasion" of the Spratlys by Beijing and said China was not bullying its weaker neighbor.
"There is no such creeping incident...There is no such thing (as) one side bullying another side," Guan said. He said the Chinese facilities were "not against any country, particularly not the Philippines".
The Philippines has a 115,000-strong army, compared to the more than 2.5 million People's Liberation Army troops, and a naval fleet whose ships are an average of 40 years old. Its air force is mainly equipped with Vietnam War-vintage fighter jets.
Despite Estrada's order to heighten air and naval patrols around the disputed reef, Nazareno made it clear his troops near the Spratlys were not looking for a fight.
Reacting to Beijing's protests on Tuesday that Philippine planes flying daily reconnaissance over the reef were sweeping down too low, Nazareno ordered the air force to fly not lower than 1,550 metres.
He also told the navy to stay five nautical miles away from the Chinese position "to reduce risks of direct confrontation".
Asked what the Filipinos would do if fired upon by Chinese navy ships, which Manila said had taken up positions on the reef, Nazareno said:
"I have ordered the navy to purchase additional flags so all vessels deployed in the area for patrol will display the Philippine flag to show that we are patrolling our territory."