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Philippines & Vietnam in the South China Sea; updates, discussions
Topic Started: Mar 29 2012, 08:20 PM (1,953 Views)
arvcab
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http://ph.news.yahoo.com/philippines-vietn...-042005434.html

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The Philippines and Vietnam plan to hold joint naval exercises and patrols along common maritime borders in the West Philippine Sea where the two nations have staked claims to some of the Spratly islands.

The agreement was made during the visit of Philippine Navy officials led by Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Alexander Pama to Vietnam from March 11 to 14.

The territorial claims of the Philippines and Vietnam are up against those of regional giant China, which claims the entire Spratlys island chain.

Pama and his staff met with Admiral Nguyen Van Hien, chief of the Vietnam People's Navy, and General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army.

"This visit is expected to provide opportunities for the conduct of joint maritime exercises in the West Philippine Sea (northeast of Vietnam) and other common maritime domains following proper diplomatic channels under guidance from the Department of National Defence," the Philippine Navy said in a statement issued yesterday.

The two Navy chiefs agreed on standard operating procedures (SOPs) to guide interaction between their respective navies in the vicinity of Southeast Cay and the Northeast Cay Island.

Memorandum of Understanding

The SOPs implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two Navy chiefs last October.

The Philippines occupies Northeast Cay Island, which it refers to as Parola Island.

It lies 45 kilometres northwest of Pag-asa Island, the biggest of the Philippine-occupied islets in the Spratlys. It is three kilometres north of Vietnam-occupied Southwest Cay Island which the Philippines refers to as Pugad Island.

The Spratly chain of islands is contested by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, which have laid claim on parts of the islands, and by China which claims the entire Spratlys.

Pama and his Vietnamese counterpart also discussed the possible establishment of a communication hotline between the operations center of the Philippine Navy and the Vietnam People's Navy covering common areas of naval operations, especially for search and rescue.

"This includes the proposed conduct of joint maritime patrols in these common maritime domains," the Navy said.

The Vietnam navy chief thanked the Philippine Navy delegation for the recent rescue of 12 Vietnamese fishermen who were found in distress by the Philippine Navy, and another nine fishermen rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard.

Vietnam offered to host Navy-to-Navy talks in the last quarter of this year.

Naval officials from the Philippines and Vietnam also discussed sharing of shipbuilding expertise as Philippine Navy officials were given a tour of Naval Shipyard X46 of the Hai Long Shipbuilding Company.

Navy-to-Navy

The shipyard is "equipped with state of the art shipbuilding and repair yard facilities with the capability to build various kinds of warships and high speed vessels up to 500 tons displacement."

Pama proposed sending Philippine Navy personnel to train at X46. Pama was joined by Commodore Joseph Rustom Pena, commander of Naval Forces West stationed in Palawan, and Captain Danilo Rodelas, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff for plans (N5).

The naval officials also visited Thailand from March 14 to 17.

They called on the Thai Ministry of Defence, the Royal Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

They held exploratory talks on wide avenues of cooperation with proposals of a possible joint exercise and ship visit by the Thai Navy to the Philippines.

The Philippine Navy officials also visited the Sattahip Naval Base, headquarters of the Royal Thai Navy.

Major General Rustico Guerrero, commandant of Philippine Marine Corps, joined the delegation during the Thai visit.
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spearhead
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DoctorNO, Your Neutral Observer.
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Pare, meron na tayong related thread/topic here by Frenzy thanks!
http://pdff.sytes.net/index.php?showtopic=10164&st=15&#last

Mods pls merge thank you!
"Men of War must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops." - Plato

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raider1011


Phl, Vietnam agree to boost defense cooperation
(philstar.com) | Updated March 6, 2013 - 4:53pm

“The meeting served as a mechanism for reviewing bilateral defense cooperation leading to a discussion of specific proposals on how to enhance defense cooperation between the two countries,” the department said in a statement.

“With a Memorandum of Agreement on Defense Cooperation signed in 2010, both sides identified mechanisms to substantiate the agreement,” it added.

The mechanisms include “practical cooperative activities” in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and the east that seek to enhance confidence among their respective personnel. . . .

Other mechanisms being considered include defense and military officials exchanges, personnel exchanges, information-sharing, analyst-to-analyst exchanges.

Philippine Star


Please merge if necessary :salute:
God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.

|| Chester W. Nimitz

Loyalty to the Nation ALL the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

|| Mark Twain
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Ayoshi
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By Lucio Blanco Pitlo III
October 21, 2013
Quote:
 
Both countries see the disputed areas as vital interests, yet have taken divergent approaches in pressing their claims.
<snipped>
The SCS dispute took a notable turn when Philippines went to UN arbitration to challenge China’s nine-dashed line. The claimants had to that point sought to manage the dispute through regional mechanisms and bilateral talks. Not surprisingly, then, Manila’s move has irked Beijing, which has been insistent on not internationalizing the dispute. While it may be premature to assess Manila’s strategy at this stage, it is interesting to examine the factors that led to parallels, as well as variances, in the strategies taken by Manila and Hanoi via-à-vis China’s increasing assertiveness in the SCS.

Vietnam’s strategies are shaped by its history, economy and geographical proximity with China. Vietnam’s economy is highly reliant on its trade and investments with China and this dependency limits Vietnam’s actions. Yet of all the disputants, it is Vietnam that has lost the most ground to China in the SCS – the Paracels in 1974 and part of the Spratlys (Johnson South Reef and Fiery Cross Reef) in 1988. Hence, Hanoi has many axes to grind against China in the SCS. Both countries have also contested offshore blocks each has awarded to foreign energy players and have traded accusations of arrests and harassment of their fishermen. However, alongside these clashes are positive milestones such as the demarcation of their common land boundary, establishment of a joint fishing zone in Tonkin Gulf and more recently the creation of a fishery hotline that could greatly aid in mitigating “incidents” at sea arising from overlapping fishing grounds. As two socialist countries with a history of competition and cooperation (they were Cold War and Vietnam War allies), many channels, official and semi-official, including Party-to-Party talks, have served as platforms to ensure that tensions are kept at manageable levels and not allowed to affect other aspects of bilateral relations, notably trade and investment. In fact, just recently, the two countries signed 12 agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, infrastructure, energy and maritime affairs, and set up a working group to look into joint exploration in SCS.

source: eurasiareview.com
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Ayoshi
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Converging Interests: Hanoi and Manila Confront Leviathan (inquirer.net-1/12/2014)
Quote:
 
They were really unprepared for that and were really embarrassed by it,” one of Vietnam’s top experts on Chinese diplomacy told me during my recent visit to Hanoi, referring to the Philippines’ bringing its case against China’s aggressive illegal actions in the West Philippine Sea to the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal.

This confirmed my assessment that the Aquino government’s action was a master move. It put China on the defensive, said another Vietnamese analyst, and was one of the factors that prompted Beijing last year to agree to begin discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on a Code of Conduct for the “East Sea,” the Vietnamese designation for the West Philippine Sea.
<snipped>
Despite varying views on China’s intentions, however, the Vietnamese are one on two key points: 1) that Nine-Dash Line claim is illegal, and 2) that owing to the number of parties involved in the South China Sea dispute, with overlapping claims, only multilateral negotiations can set the basis for a lasting comprehensive solution.
<snipped>
Vietnam on the Philippines’ Legal Case against Beijing
Part of the reason for the lack of more explicit support appears to be that a judgment on the case would clarify not only the Philippines and China’s claims but also Vietnam’s, and some implications of this might not be positive for Hanoi. But uppermost is a desire not to enrage China at a time that high-level exchanges are returning relations between the two countries to “normal” or something close to it.

Despite their hesitations in giving the Philippines’ legal case their full public endorsement, the decision of the Philippines to an international court is eliciting widespread admiration in official circles, with one retired ambassador calling it “heroic.” A key reason for the popularity of the move is obviously that it blindsided Beijing and upset China’s careful calculations. According to one expert on Chinese diplomacy, “the reason they’re upset is because they already have five battlefields—the political, diplomatic, mass media, security, military—and now you’ve added a sixth: the legal battlefield.” He continued, “The Chinese have a saying, ‘when the flag is in your hands, don’t yield it to others.’” Beijing, in other words, feels very much at sea on the legal front, where experts in international law will be calling the shots.


see also: PH Files Case vs China Before UNCLOS Tribunal
Edited by Ayoshi, Jan 17 2014, 01:41 PM.
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Ayoshi
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REMEMBER 1979 | Vietnamese, Filipinos issue pointed reminder to China of perils of war (interaksyon.com)

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Vietnamese living in the Philippines hold pointed reminders to China about treating one's neighbors right, in a mass action marking the 35th anniversary of China's invasion of Vietnam JAMIN VERDE, INTERAKSYON.COM
<snipped>
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In a mass action outside the Chinese consulate in Makati City, they unfurled streamers and tarpaulins with two themes. The first, remembering the Vietnamese who died defending their motherland when China, angered by Vietnam’s ouster of the Beijing-backed regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, invaded several northern provinces of Vietnam. The war ended with China withdrawing its troops but both camps claiming victory.

The second theme of Monday’s Fil-Vietnamese mass action in the Philippines was a reminder to Beijing to stop bully tactics to assert its claims in the South China Sea.
Edited by Ayoshi, Feb 18 2014, 12:06 AM.
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Ayoshi
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Amid China's assertiveness, Vietnam leader warns vs use of force in territorial rows (interaksyon.com)
March 18, 2014
Quote:
 
President Truong Tan Sang made the comments in Japan's parliament during a four-day visit. A joint press briefing with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled later Tuesday.

"Vietnam has always maintained these principles over maritime disputes -- resolution by peaceful means, compliance with international law, and respect for each other's due rights and sovereignty," the Vietnamese leader said.

"Countries concerned should not make the situation complex, but rather exercise self-restraint. They should neither use force nor threaten to use force."
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Ayoshi
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Is a Philippine-Vietnam Alliance in the Making? (thediplomat.com)
March 28, 2014
Quote:
 
The Philippines and Vietnam reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Defense Cooperation on October 26, 2010. The MOU was signed in Hanoi by Vietnam’s Minister of National Defense, General Phung Quang Thanh, and the Philippines’ Secretary of Defense, Voltaire Gazmin, on the sidelines of the state visit by President Benigno Aquino.

The MOU contained generally worded provisions for reciprocal visits by military delegations, information exchanges on counter-terrorism, cooperation in military education and training, search and rescue assistance, and collaboration in the development of military equipment and technology. A joint technical working group was set up to implement the MOU.
<snipped>
The two navy chiefs signed an agreement on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on Personnel Interaction in the Vicinity of Southeast Cay and the Northeast Cay Island between the Vietnam People’s Navy and Philippine Navy. Under the terms of the SOP, the two sides agreed to conduct coordinated maritime patrols in their overlapping waters.

China’s Foreign Ministry immediately warned against any exercises between the Vietnamese and Philippine navies. As a result, it appears that the idea of joint naval patrols was shelved in favor of football and basketball matches – or “fun games” – between naval personnel stationed in the Spratly Islands.
<snipped>
On March 21 this year, Vice Admiral Jose Luis M. Alano, led a Philippine Navy delegation to Hanoi. Alano expressed interest in joint training of naval graduates at the bachelor degree level. Defense Minister General Thanh suggested that the two naval forces should raise cooperation in sharing intelligence through hotlines in their respective defense ministries, joint Search and Rescue exercises, and professional military education and training.
Edited by Ayoshi, Mar 28 2014, 08:06 AM.
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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

INSIGHT - Philippine, Vietnamese navies to unite against China over beers and volleyball
Manuel Mogato and Greg Torode
Reuters - 15 hours ago


The Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolising how once-suspicious neighbours are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters.

Regional diplomats confirmed increasing levels of trust at a working level, as countries find that China's projection of naval power into Asia's waters is driving them together.

A 40-strong Philippine naval delegation will return to Southwest Cay to party - this time to mark budding naval cooperation between Hanoi and Manila even though both still claim the island, Philippine and Vietnamese military officials told Reuters.

They said a day of beach volleyball, drinks and music was being planned in a celebration unprecedented in the recent history of the Spratly islands.

The precise date of the party on Southwest Cay, which is almost equidistant from Vietnam and the Philippines, has yet to be finalised, the military officials said. The Chinese navy had not been invited, they added.

Diplomats and experts believe Beijing will be watching the Manila-Hanoi rapprochement closely, having earlier protested the prospect of Philippine-Vietnamese exercises around Southwest and Northeast Cay when they were first mooted in 2012.


Diplomats and experts believe Beijing will be watching the Manila-Hanoi rapprochement closely, having earlier protested the prospect of Philippine-Vietnamese exercises around Southwest and Northeast Cay when they were first mooted in 2012.



Yahoo / Reuters




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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

The Vietnamese and Filipinos Throw a Beach Party, But China Isn't Invited
Michelle Arrouas
1:47 AM ET


A day of beer, music and volleyball is being held on a disputed South China Sea island to prove a point: that China's territorial aggressiveness isn't winning it any friends.

The Philippine and Vietnamese navies will hold a beach party to bond over their common mistrust of China, and forget - just for a day - their mistrust of each other.


Time


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