Obama: USA to transfer two vessels to PH navy

The U.S. has provided two frigates to the Philippine Navy -BRP Gregorio del Pilar, which arrived in the country in 2011, and BRP Ramon Alcaraz, which was commissioned in 2013.

The BRP Gregorio del Pilar is the fastest ship in the Philippine navy.

With a towering warship behind him, President Barack Obama says the US will hand over two ships to the Philippine Navy to boost its maritime security capabilities, in a bid to show the USA and its allies won’t be cowed by China in disputed waters far off its coast.

Obama said the US will transfer two ships, a research vessel and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, to the Philippine Navy as part of its “ironclad commitment” to helping fortify the Philippines’ maritime security.

Obama’s announcement came at the start of his ninth trip to Asia, and this one, like the others, was created to illustrate his efforts to strengthen alliances as part of his seven-year campaign to increase USA influence in Asia.

“For 70 years, the US presence in the Asia-Pacific has been the foundation of regional peace, stability, and security in the region”, the Obama administration stated in a fact sheet.

Traditionally a platform for discussing economic cooperation, a few topics on the APEC agenda this year include integrating small- and medium-sized enterprises into the global value chain, and facilitating trade in services.

Aquino and Japan’s Abe are also expected to agree on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to supply Manila with used military equipment, possibly including aircraft that could be deployed to patrol the disputed South China Sea, sources said.

Leaders gathering for a regional summit in the Philippines plan to condemn the Paris attacks, according to a draft of their declaration seen Tuesday by The Associated Press.

“Just as important, the Philippines’ weakness relative to China and its pursuit of global arbitration to defend its interests – especially when compared to China’s refusal to engage in such arbitration when it is treaty-bound to do so -has given it the moral high ground”, Mazza suggests.

The vessel has been operating around the Spratly Islands, which Manila and Beijing both claim.

Besides the Philippines, China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion worth of shipping trade passes every year.

Liu defended China’s building of an airstrip long enough to accommodate military jets on one of the islands.

Liu said China did not want the South China Sea to be the focus of the East Asia Summit, but he said it would be hard to avoid and that a few countries would raise it.

Alan Bollard said trade ministers are set to review its strategic study on the Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

Beijing objected, but the USA actions were welcomed by American allies such as the Philippines, Japan and Australia, which are all APEC founding members. While Obama was ready to talk up his freshly-signed trade deal and military cooperation in Asia, the rest of the world was looking for leadership on the Islamic State’s relentless reign of violence.

Obama and other world leaders are to arrive in Manila from Tuesday, many after attending the G20 leaders summit in Turkey, where the Paris attacks overshadowed the agenda.

Chinese state media have accentuated China’s engagement with countries in the APEC bloc and its efforts to foster development in the region ahead of this week’s meeting, while playing down any rivalries with neighboring countries over sovereignty in the South China Sea.