MANILA: The territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea remained a security challenge despite an improvement in bilateral ties, the Philippine defense chief said on Monday as he accepted three maritime surveillance planes from Japan.
Delfin Lorenzana, in a speech at a naval base south of the capital Manila, said the three Japanese donated second-hand TC90 planes will definitely boost the navy’s capability to gather intelligence in the disputed South China Sea.
“We must admit that much still has to be done to boost our military capability equipment in order to meet a number of persistent maritime security challenges,” Lorenzana said, identifying territorial disputes with China, and other countries, over resource-rich areas in the South China Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, where about $5 trillion worth of sea-borne goods pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims in the strategic waterway.
Tensions between the Philippines and China over the disputed sea have eased since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in July 2016 and improved relations with Beijing via Chinese trade and investments.
Lorenzana said the Philippines was also concerned with piracy and the movement of armed insurgents in the Sulu Sea and other transnational crimes, including smuggling of illegal drugs and poaching into rich fishing grounds in territorial waters.
Japan planned to lease five surveillance planes but decided last year to transfer without cost the aircraft after changes were made in Tokyo’s self-defense forces law allowing donation of excess defense and military equipment to partner countries.
Japan’s vice minister for defense, Tatsuo Fukuda, said Tokyo was willing to help its allies improve its capabilities help secure the safety of international sea lanes and benefit not only the Philippines but the entire region.
During the handover ceremony, Lorenzana and Fukuda watched the planes land at a naval base guarding the mouth of Manila Bay, hundreds of miles southeast of the disputed Scarborough Shoal now patrolled by Chinese coast guard ships.
The navy said the surveillance planes have a range of 300 km (186 miles), twice the capability of its existing aircraft and could patrol into China’s seven artificial islands in the Spratly, which had been converted into military bases.
The navy said it has a budget of nearly 6 billion peso ($114.65 million) to acquire two brand new long-range maritime patrol aircraft to enhance its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. ($1 = 52.3310 Philippine pesos)
Philippine defense chief says China sea dispute still a challenge
Philippine defense chief says China sea dispute still a challenge
26 Doctors without Borders workers remain unaccounted for in South Sudan a month after attacks
- A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said
- “We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity”
NAIROBI: More than two dozen Doctors Without Borders workers remain unaccounted for a month after attacks in South Sudan, the medical charity said.
Two facilities belonging to the group, known by French acronym MSF, were attacked on Feb. 3 in Jonglei State, northeast of the capital, Juba, where violence has displaced an estimated 280,000 people since December.
A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said, while another medical facility in the town of Pieri was raided by “unknown assailants.” Both were located in opposition-held areas.
Staff working at the two facilities fled alongside much of the local population into deeply rural areas where armed clashes and aerial bombardments were ongoing.
MSF said in a statement on Monday that “26 of 291 of our colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for.
“We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity,” it said.
The lack of communication with its staff could be linked to the limited network connectivity in much of the state. Staff members who had been contacted described “destruction, violence and extreme hardships.”
Fighting escalated sharply in December, when opposition forces captured a string of government outposts in north central Jonglei. In January, the government responded with a counteroffensive that recaptured most of the area it had lost.
Displaced people in Akobo, an opposition-held town near the Ethiopian border, described horrific violence by government fighters. Many described not being able to find food or water as they walked for days to reach safety.
The attacks on MSF facilities in Lankien and Pieri are part of an uptick in violence on humanitarian staff, supplies and infrastructure, aid groups say. MSF facilities have been attacked 10 times in the last 12 months.
“This violence has taken an unbearable toll not only on health care services, but on the very people who kept them running,” said Yashovardhan, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, who only uses one name.
“Medical workers must never be targets,” he said. “We are deeply concerned about what has happened to our colleagues and the communities we serve.”
