It’s a classic “cabbage strategy” that the Philippines and other claimant states have to deal with. China has no intention to use its navy against smaller coastal states, like the Philippines. It does not want to risk an American response under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
The Philippines cannot afford to be the weakest link. It has to prepare for future wars. It has to modernize quickly.
Filipino army soldiers are, for the first time, test firing an FGM 148 Javelin, or an advanced anti-tank weapon system-medium (AAWS-M) man-portable, during this month’s bilateral Army-to-Army conventional exercise, Salaknib, in northern Luzon.
The Constitution is sacrosanct. It must be respected, upheld and followed to the letter. If it allows foreign troops presence in the country only through a treaty, then, the nation’s leaders must work on a treaty and not on an executive agreement.
The Hawaii-based US Indo-Pacific Command on Friday cancelled Exercise Balikatan 2020 scheduled on May 4-15 in the Philippines, citing health and safety concerns amid a pandemic.