US, Southeast Asian navies begin annual joint exercises

The navies of the US, the Philippines and four other Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday kicked off this year’s Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercises in a bid to

 enhance their interoperability in addressing maritime threats.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand also joined SEACAT 2012, which will be held until Sept. 2.

Navy spokesman Col. Omar Tonsay said the exercises are being conducted in Malacca Strait, Sulu Sea and Subic Bay.

The exercises are being held two months after the nuclear-powered US submarine USS Louisville made a port call at Subic.

Louisville is the second US attack submarine that visited the Philippines since Washington bared plans to enhance its presence in the Asia Pacific. The first was USS North Carolina which docked in Subic Bay last May.

Another US vessel, the hospital ship USNS Mercy, also docked in Subic last month to replenish its supplies.

About 200 Filipino sailors from the Naval Forces West and Naval Forces Northern Luzon, four ships and an islander aircraft are involved in the event. The US Navy ship USS Safeguard is also participating in the activity.

“They will participate together with the US Navy in a scenario-driven fleet training exercise against terrorism, transnational crimes and other maritime threats,” Tonsay said in a statement.

The exercises focus on real-time information exchange, coordinated surveillance operations, tracking, and visit, board, search and seizure of target vessels.

“This activity will involve surface, air, and special operations units in the conduct of surveillance, tracking, and boarding of the COI (contact of interest) from the different participating navies within their respective maritime territories.” Navy chief Vice Adm. Alexander Pama said.

A maritime interdiction operations scenario will be conducted at the Subic Bay and at the Sulu Sea.

Coast Watch stations of the participating countries will also be used to exercise their capabilities in surveillance, tracking, communications, and operations.

“With this training, the Philippine Navy will be able to enhance regional coordination, information sharing, and combined inter-operability capability with participating navies in the region,” Tonsay said.

He claimed the activity would also improve the maritime security capability of the military.

SEACAT is an annual exercise conducted at vital sea lanes in Southeast Asia to secure the area from terrorists, poachers, and transnational lawless elements.

It aims to promote regional coordination, information sharing and interoperability in a multilateral environment. - Alexis Romero

Over 60 dead in clashes with BIFF - Army

MANILA, Philippines -- Close to a month of fighting between government forces and a breakaway Moro rebel group has left more than 69 people dead, the Army said Tuesday.

Colonel Prudencio Asto, spok

esmen of the Army’s 6rth Infantry Dvision, said most of the fatalities were fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

He added that fighting had tapered off since Monday when the military captured a number of BIFF camps.

"It's generally peaceful here because we were able to capture several of their camps. They have nowhere to go," Asto said.

Asto said five soldiers and a policeman have died in the fighting while "scores" of BIFF members were injured.

He said soldiers manning checkpoints have been ordered to be on the lookout for wounded BIFF fighters.

The clashes, which have centered mostly on Maguindanao province, began on August 5 when the rebels attacked military installations.

The BIFF said the attacks were in retaliation for the deaths of two members, which they blamed on the military.

An earlier report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the fighting had affected 7,800 families. Twenty-two houses also burned down.

US missile system expansion in Asia-Pacific angers China

A US Sea-Based X-Band Radar (file photo).

Tensions are once again running high between the United States and China as Washington plans to expand its missile system in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Pentagon intends to convince Tokyo to allow the installment of a second early-warning radar system, known as X-Band, in southern Japan, Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. 

The new X-Band is planned to complement one that the US had deployed in northern Japan in 2006. The Philippines is also being considered as the potential site for a third X-Band radar in the region, the report said. 

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey confirmed on Thursday that the US is discussing the topic with Japan, saying that “missile defense is important to both of our nations.” 

Washington claims the system is not directed at China but at North Korea. Military experts, however, maintain that the sophisticated system is well beyond anything necessary to counter Pyongyang. 

China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a Thursday statement that “China has always believed that anti-missile issues should be handled with great discretion, from the perspective of protecting global strategic stability and promoting strategic mutual trust among all countries.”

“We advocate that all parties fully respect and be mindful of the security concerns of one another and try to realize overall safety through mutual benefit and win-win efforts, while avoiding the situation in which one country tries to let its own state security take priority over other countries’ national security,” the statement further read.

Beijing had also opposed the first 2006 X-Band deployment in Japan. 

VG/MA/AZ 

Ailing Philippine envoy to China 'may be replaced'

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine ambassador to China may be replaced barely three months after her appointment following a stroke this week, the presidential palace said on Saturday.

Veteran diplomat Sonia Brady, 71, who was picked to help ease territorial tensions with China, was rushed to a Beijing hospital on Wednesday and is now recovering, said presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte.

Asked if Brady would be replaced, Valte said: "That is something we should (consider) of course. The thoughts and the opinions also of Ambassador Brady should be considered before anything like that happens.

"At the moment, our concern is really for her recovery so we will watch that first. We have capable fellow workers in the Beijing post who can keep the affairs going on a daily basis."

Brady was named ambassador in May amid a tense standoff between the Philippines and China over disputed territory in the South China Sea.

She was chosen largely for her familiarity with Chinese culture and politics having already served as ambassador there from 2006 to 2010.

While Brady is recovering, "the deputy chief of mission takes over the affairs of the embassy and its mandate to strengthen our bilateral relations with China", Foreign Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

Philippine relations with China have deteriorated since April after ships from both countries got into a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, an outcropping of rocks in the South China Sea.

China claims the shoal along with most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its Asian neighbors, while the Philippines claims the shoal as being well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

© 1994-2012 Agence France-Presse

South China Sea spat could cause deeper rifts in ASEAN and with China - Indonesian FM

OTTAWA - Deeper divisions could open up between Southeast Asian states and Beijing unless they do a better job of handling disputes such as a recent quarrel over the South China Sea, Indonesia's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Marty Natalegawa said Jakarta was trying to restore harmony after unprecedented arguments over the sea prevented a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) last month from issuing a joint communique, the first time this had happened in the 10-member bloc's 45-year history.

"That's not good ... we will need to do better next time," he told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Canada.

The divisions stem from what some ASEAN members see as China's rapidly expanding influence in the region. Beijing has close relations with some ASEAN member states like Cambodia and Myanmar but there are tensions with others such as the Philippines and Vietnam. The Asian giant is not a member of the group.

China has territorial claims over a huge area of the South China Sea, including waters where the Philippines and Vietnam also claim sovereignty. At stake are potentially massive offshore oil reserves.

The area has become Southeast Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint. China and the Philippines have faced-off on a number of occasions in the disputed waters.

Natalegawa said he did not believe there was any one country in Southeast Asia or East Asia that "deliberately, with conscious aggressive intent" wanted to jeopardize peaceful international relations in the region.

"What we may have instead is a risk of miscalculation, of misperception, and action creating counter-reaction and a chain effect," he said.

Indonesia is working on a binding code of conduct for the South China Sea that would offer a guarantee that if one nation involved in a disagreement exercised restraint, the other would too.

"We have to save us from ourselves in assuming the worst of the other's intent and ending up having a self-fulfilling type of vicious circle. Now this is what Indonesia is trying to do," said Natalegawa.

"We are trying to intervene to say 'Look, stay calm and steady, let's not rush along a pathway that we don't want to go in' and avoiding this Cold War type of mentality, as if there are new fault lines."

China has yet to commit to the idea of a code of conduct, the details of which are still unclear. Natelegawa discussed the matter at a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi this month and "did not receive any negative response to my presentation of what is to come".

Natalegawa said he did not agree with the claim that China was becoming more assertive within ASEAN.

"I said (to Chinese officials) 'Look, what's going on? What's with you? Where are you coming from on this issue?' And when I hear from their world view, from their perspective, they have their own rationale and perception, as if they were caught by surprise as to what had happened at the (summit)," he said.

The arguments over the South China Sea were an unwelcome distraction for a grouping that plans to create a European Union-style economic community by 2015.

Natalegawa said he was encouraged by recent democratic reforms introduced by the military rulers of former rogue member Myanmar, which is due to chair ASEAN in 2014.

"A country that is chairing ASEAN on the eve of the ASEAN (economic) community 2015 must be more sensitive on human rights issues, on governance issues, than any one of us," he said.

"So it gives us a great deal of ... encouragement in making sure the process of reform in Myanmar is irreversible."

Air Force: 'Old' planes used by PNoy safe to fly

In the aftermath of the plane crash that claimed the life of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, the Philippine Air Force assured the public that the "old" planes being used by President Benigno Aquino III are safe to fly.

"Of course, they undergo very stringent maintenance procedures and they are also certified to fly especially more so… [because] we're flying the President," Philippine Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol told GMA News in an interview.

He issued the statement after lawmakers urged Malacañang to beef up the modes of transportation for top government officials after Robredo died last Saturday when the chartered plane he took crashed to the sea just off Masbate Island.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said that the Presidential Airlift Wing of the Philippine Air Force – in-charge of transporting the President and the First Family by air, be given funds to buy two planes for domestic flights and two more for international flights.

This is because most of the aircrafts being used by the Air Force "are older than the President," he said.

Okol could not immediately confirm if that was true, saying he needs to check their records. He noted that the quality of an aircraft does not depend on its age.

"I have flown aircraft far older than I am, but it's not on how you... It's not on age of the aircraft, but it's in the matter of maintenance that you do with the aircraft," he said.

The Air Force spokesman said that the primary executive jet used by the Presidential Airlift Wing is the Fokker F28 Fellowship while the backup is the Fokker F27 Friendship.

On the other hand, he said that the helicopters being used by the President are the Sikorsky Black Hawk and the Bell 412.

Here are brief descriptions of the aircraft units under the Presidential Airlift Wing:

Fokker F27 Friendship

According to aircraft encyclopedia flugzeuginfo.net, the F27 Friendship is a "twin-engine turboprop regional airliner with a capacity of maximum 52 passengers" produced by Dutch manufacturer Fokker.
 
Airliners.net said the F27 Friendship "was built in greater numbers than any other western turboprop airliner."  It said Fokker began designing the F27 in the 1950s.
 
Fokker F28 Fokker Fellowship

Aircraft encyclopedia flugzeuginfo.net also said the F28 Friendship is "a twin-engine regional airliner with a capacity of maximum 85 passengers."
 
According to Airliners.net, Fokker began developing the F28 in 1960 after it saw a perceived demand for a "higher performance and greater capacity airliner in comparison with the F27." 

Sikorsky Black Hawk
 

Flugzeuginfo.net describes the Black Hawk as a medium utility helicopter with two turbo-shaft engines and a capacity of two crewmembers and 14 passengers produced by the US manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
 
Bell 412

According to flugzeuginfo.net, Bell 412 is "a twin-engine 15-seat medium utility helicopter produced by the American manufacturer Bell Helicopter Textron [and] produced in Fort Worth in Dallas (USA) and Mirabel in  Quebec (Canada)."
 
Airliners.net said that the development of the Bell 412 began in the late 1970s. — VS, GMA News

Government Urged to Get New Aircrafts for Top Officials

Beechcraft King Air. Philippines government needs at least six new aircrafts—one regional jet, one jet for local travel, two propeller-driven aircrafts (1 Queen Air and 1 King Air), and two helicopters. (photo : executivejetco)

MANILA (Updated) -- The tragic death of Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo in a plane crash Saturday prompted calls for government to get new aircrafts to ensure safety of high-ranking state officials during out-of-town trips.

The minority bloc in the House of Representatives said government should spend US$85 million (P3.6 billion) for the purchase of at least six new aircrafts.

Robredo and two pilots died Saturday after a chartered Piper Seneca plane carrying them to Naga City crashed before reaching the airport in Masbate City. The Cabinet official and his party came from Cebu for an official business trip when they met the accident. Robredo's aide, June Paolo Abrazado, survived the crash with only a few injuries.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said the government needs at least six new aircrafts—one regional jet, one jet for local travel, two propeller-driven aircrafts (1 Queen Air and 1 King Air), and two helicopters.

"We should not put a tag price in the security of our leaders," he said in a press conference Wednesday.

Suarez said the Airlift Wing of the Philippine Air Force, which has the mandate of providing safe air transport for the President and members of his official family, has a fleet of aircraft and helicopters but most of which are older than Aquino.

Beechcraft Queen Air (photo : flugzeuginfo)

"We are expressing our concern for the safety of the President and his family because, as we are all aware, our country does not have a dedicated Presidential plane and he takes chartered flights for official travel," the close ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said, adding that the new aircrafts will also benefit political leaders after Aquino's term.

Back in August 2009, then President Arroyo reportedly cancelled an order for a presidential jet after the public reacted negatively to the purchase.

Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, who held Cabinet positions during the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos, saw nothing wrong of the proposal.

"During our time, we attempted to provide the executives of the government, especially those who are travelling often out of Manila, a safe transportation system. We are an archipelago. You traverse jungles and large bodies of water. When you travel by helicopter, if the helicopter crashes in the sea, there is zero survivability," he said in a chance interview.

He said it is normal for the government to receive criticism if and when it pushes through with the plan given other pressing problems such as poverty.

"That is the burden of leadership. You expect criticism because you cannot please everybody when you make a decision," Enrile said.

The House minority bloc also asked the government to immediately review all modes of public transportation following Robredo's death.

(SunStar)

Philippine envoy to China Sonia Brady suffers stroke

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady suffered a stroke in Beijing on Friday.

“Amb. Brady suffered a stroke and is hospitalized where her condition is being monitored closely,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario confirmed Brady’s condition in a text message to VERA Files.

Brady, who turned 71 on Wednesday, had just recovered from a mild stroke when she was named ambassador to China last May at the height of the standoff between Philippine and China maritime vessels in Panatag shoal.

Aside from China, North Korea and Mongolia are also currently under Brady’s jurisdiction.

She is on her second stint as ambassador to China, having served in the same position from 2006 to 2010. She was ambassador to Thailand and Myanmar before she was named envoy to China.

From 1976 to 1978, Brady served as third secretary and vice consul and was later second secretary and consul of the Philippine embassy in China.

Brady was plucked from retirement after President Benigno Aquino III’s first choice, family friend Domingo Lee, was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments several times.

Brady breezed through the CA as the members recognized her experience in China and diplomacy and the urgency of the situation.   She waited only a month to be confirmed.

A career diplomat, Brady studied journalism at the University of Santo Tomas. She earned her foreign service degree at the University of the Philippines. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Southern California in 1987.

Brady served as assistant secretary in the Department of Foreign Affair’s Office of Policy and Coordination from 1999 to 2002.

Air Force One for President Aquino

President Benigno Aquino III should acquire an "Air Force One" and beef up the government’s fleet of aircraft to protect himself and the members of his Cabinet, Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III said Monday.

“I have told them to shun criticisms and get an aircraft for the President. I have said that it is about time to upgrade the airplanes being used by our government officials,” Sotto said.

Sotto lamented the unfortunate plane crash involving Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and the two pilots last Saturday.

“They should no longer think twice about it or be swayed by criticisms because the safety of the President and his cabinet members should be our primordial concern,” the majority leader said.

“Look at what happened, you are the DILG secretary, and he should have had his own chopper or aircraft to go around the country,” Sotto added.

Robredo is not the first top government official to be involved in a plane crash. During the time of ex-president and Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former press secretary Jose Capadocia was killed in a helicopter crash in Benguet.

As this developed, Sotto said the Commission on Appointments (CA) would have set the confirmation hearing for Robredo on August 29.

Sotto, chairperson of the CA subcommittee on local government said the initial CA hearing last Wednesday was postponed due to the request of some congressmen who wanted to be present during the necrological services for Sorsogon Rep. Sonny Escudero.

According to Sotto, the CA was supposedly to be re-scheduled to Wednesday, August 22, but Robredo himself asked that the hearing be postponed to a later date because he would not be available this week. - Christina Mendez, philstar.com

Philippines: Gazmin presents budget 2013 Budget to Congress PH Navy to get Italian Maestrale class frigates

The Philippine News Agency reports, that the Department of National Defense (DND)  has presented its 2013 budget to congress. “One of the largest procurement plans ever for the armed forces of the Philippines.” say defense officials . Overall the Philippine Navy sees a major boost to its capability and regaining anti-submarine warfare capability.

High on the list are two Italian Meastrale Class Frigates, that PNA reports will cost, “US$ 30 million (P6 billion) each to upgrade the Philippines’ defense capabilities.” the Maestrale’s are modern well armed frigates are seen as a major jump to 21st century technology for a navy who for decades operated some of the oldest naval vessels in the world. 

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, speaking at the hearing of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee on the DND’s proposed 2013 P121.6-billion budget, Italian frigates are a ‘key part’ of the DND’s modernization plan.

The 2013 budget is P15 billion higher than this 2012  SND Gazmin told congressmen the budget increase would be used for investments to  “beef up territorial defense.”

110 IFV’s for Philippine Army

The plans to aquire 60 infantry fighting vehicles and at least 38 mobile gun systems and two dozen MBT’s has also been revealed for the Philippine Amry’s three mechanized infantry battalions. The Army is looking to aquire a mix of tracked and wheeled AFV’s.

Spanish and Italian as well as French MBT’s have been offered the Leopard 2, AMX30, and, upgraded M60A4 models which have the gun and turret system of the US M1A Abrams tank are under consideration.

Three Squadrons of 12 MBTs are seen as needed to make the Mechanized infrantry units more capable in urabn and rural combat situations where the gun systems on the MBT;s can engage tagets at up 10km away.

Italy already has offered to bundle purchase options for the Frigates with IFV’s and the idea is considered to be an attractive one. However, these may be for the Philippine Marines.

DFA chief: PHL ready to send back ships to Panatag once weather improves

The Philippines will send back ships it pulled out from the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc once the weather improves, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

President Benigno Aquino III ordered the withdrawal of two Philippine vessels in June, easing a tense standoff that erupted in April 10.

“We’re waiting for better conditions,” Del Rosario told reporters during the Eid El Fitr reception at the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday evening.

“I think the President believes that this is not the proper time because of the very bad weather,” he said.

At least three Chinese vessels have been sighted at the shoal by the Philippine Navy in its latest reconnaissance flight over the area, Del Rosario said.

Barriers set up by China at the mouth of the shoal to block the entry of any Philippine vessel that will attempt to enter the lagoon have remained, he added.

Standoff

The standoff erupted when the Philippine Navy spotted eight Chinese fishing boats off the shoal, which Manila maintains is within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone as provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both countries, along with 162 other nations, are signatories to the treaty.

A Philippine Navy ship was about to arrest the Chinese fishermen in possession of large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and live sharks, but was prevented by two Chinese maritime surveillance ships.

Panatag Shoal, a U-shaped rock formation with a sprawling lagoon teeming with rich maritime resources, is located 124 nautical miles from Masinloc town in Zambales. It is 472 nautical miles from China’s nearest coastal province of Hainan.

China rejected Manila’s assertion over the shoal, saying proximity alone can not be a basis for ownership. It said it was the first to have discovered Panatag, citing ancient maps to prove its claim.

Apart from Panatag, China also claims the whole of South China Sea, also known as West Philippine Sea, including areas that overlap with the Philippines’ territorial waters.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan all have competing claims over resource-rich waters harboring vast oil and gas deposits within the West Philippine Sea. 

Sanshua City

In a bid to reinforce its claim, Beijing recently established a new city called Sansha under its southern Hainan province to politically administer its claimed territories in the West Philippine Sea.

The conflicts have spilled over to the Association of South East Asian Nations, the 10-member regional bloc which includes four of the claimants – Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.

For the first time in the bloc’s 45-year existence, ASEAN failed to issue a traditional joint communiqué after Cambodia, a known Chinese ally and this year’s chairman, insistently blocked moves to mention the disputes in the document.

Other ASEAN members are: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

Del Rosario said he would travel to a number of ASEAN member countries to explain the Philippine position before the regional group holds an annual summit of its heads of state in Cambodia in November. — RSJ, GMA News

U.S. Plans New Asia Missile Defenses

The U.S. is planning a major expansion of missile defenses in Asia, a move American officials say is designed to contain threats from North Korea, but one that could also be used to counter China's military.

The planned buildup is part of a defensive array that could cover large swaths of Asia, with a new radar in southern Japan and possibly another in Southeast Asia tied to missile-defense ships and land-based interceptors.

It is part of the Obama administration's new defense strategy to shift resources to an Asian-Pacific region critical to the U.S. economy after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The expansion comes at a time when the U.S. and its allies in the region voice growing alarm about a North Korean missile threat. They are also increasingly worried about China's aggressive stance in disputed waters such the South China Sea, where Asian rivals are vying for control of oil and mineral rights.

U.S. defense planners are particularly concerned about China's development of antiship ballistic missiles that could threaten the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers, critical to the U.S. projection of power in Asia.

"The focus of our rhetoric is North Korea," said Steven Hildreth, a missile-defense expert with the Congressional Research Service, an advisory arm of Congress. "The reality is that we're also looking longer term at the elephant in the room, which is China."

China's Ministry of National Defense didn't comment directly on the anti-missile plans, but sounded a cautious note.

"China has always believed that anti-missile issues should be handled with great discretion, from the perspective of protecting global strategic stability and promoting strategic mutual trust among all countries," it said in a statement on Thursday. "We advocate that all parties fully respect and be mindful of the security concerns of one another and try to realize overall safety through mutual benefit and win-win efforts, while avoiding the situation in which one country tries to let its own state security take priority over other countries' national security."

In a separate statement, China's Foreign Ministry said it hopes the U.S. "will carefully handle this problem out of concern for maintaining the global and regional strategic balance and stability, and promoting the strategic mutual trust among all countries."

A centerpiece of the new effort would be the deployment of a powerful early-warning radar, known as an X-Band, on an undisclosed southern Japanese island, said U.S. defense officials. The Pentagon is discussing that prospect with Japan, one of Washington's closest regional allies. The radar could be installed within months of Japan's agreement, American officials said, and would supplement an X-Band the U.S. positioned in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan in 2006.

A Japanese Ministry of Defense spokesman said the government wouldn't comment. The U.S. and Japan have ruled out deploying the new radar to Okinawa, a southern island whose residents have long chafed at the U.S. military forces' presence there.

Officials with the U.S. military's Pacific Command and Missile Defense Agency have also been evaluating sites in Southeast Asia for a third X-Band radar to create an arc that would allow the U.S. and its regional allies to more accurately track any ballistic missiles launched from North Korea, as well as from parts of China.

Some U.S. defense officials have focused on the Philippines as the potential site for the third X-Band, which is manufactured by Raytheon Co. Pentagon officials said a location has yet to be determined and that discussions are at an early stage.

The beefed-up U.S. presence will likely raise tensions with the Chinese, who have been sharp critics of U.S. ballistic missile defenses in the past. Beijing fears such a system, similar to one the U.S. is deploying in the Middle East and Europe to counter Iran, could diminish China's strategic deterrent. Beijing objected to the U.S.'s first X-Band deployment in Japan in 2006. Moscow has voiced similar concerns about the system in Europe and the Middle East.

Without commenting on specific plans, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said: "North Korea is the immediate threat that is driving our missile defense decision making."

In April, North Korea launched a multistage rocket that blew up less than two minutes into its flight. It conducted previous launches in August 1998, July 2006 and April 2009.

The Pentagon sent a sea-based X-Band, normally docked in Pearl Harbor, to the Pacific to monitor the most recent North Korean launch as a precaution.

The Pentagon is particularly concerned about the growing imbalance of power across the Taiwan Strait. China has been developing advanced ballistic missiles and antiship ballistic missiles that could target U.S. naval forces in the region.

China has between 1,000 and 1,200 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, and has been developing longer range cruise and ballistic missiles, including one designed to hit a moving ship more than 930 miles away, says the Pentagon's latest annual report on China's military.

The proposed X-Band arc would allow the U.S. to not only cover all of North Korea, but to peer deeper into China, say current and former U.S. officials.

"Physics is physics," a senior U.S. official said. "You're either blocking North Korea and China or you're not blocking either of them."

Beijing has said it poses no threat to its neighbors.

One goal of the Pentagon is to reassure its anxious regional allies, which are walking a fine line. Many want the U.S.'s backing but also don't want to provoke China, and they aren't sure Washington can counter Beijing's rapid military modernization because of America's fiscal constraints.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said during a visit Wednesday to the USS John C. Stennis warship in Washington state that the U.S. would "focus and project our force into the Pacific."

The U.S. presence on the ground in Asia, especially the Marine bases in Okinawa, has been a source of constant tension, and a more determined presence could spark similar problems. In addition to the new X-Band site in southern Japan, the U.S. plans to increase the number of Marines in Okinawa in the near term before relocating them to Guam. As the Marines are pulled out of Afghanistan, going from 21,000 to less than 7,000, the number of forces on Okinawa will rise, from about 15,000 to 19,000, officials said.

Analysts say it is unclear how effective U.S. missile defenses would be against China. A 2010 Pentagon report on ballistic missile defenses said the system can't cope with large-scale Russian or Chinese missile attacks and isn't intended to affect the strategic balance with those countries.

The senior U.S. official said the new missile defense deployments would be able to track and repulse at least a limited strike from China, potentially enough to deter Beijing from attempting an attack.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia nonproliferation program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, said any missile-defense deployments in the Asian theater will alarm the Chinese, particular if they believe the systems are designed to cover Taiwan. "If you're putting one in southern Japan and one in the Philippines, you're sort of bracketing Taiwan," Mr. Lewis said. "So it does look like you're making sure that you can put a missile defense cap over the Taiwanese."

Mr. Hildreth of the Congressional Research Service said the U.S. was "laying the foundations" for a regionwide missile defense system that would combine U.S. ballistic missile defenses with those of regional powers, particularly Japan, South Korea and Australia.

U.S. officials say some of these allies have, until now, resisted sharing real-time intelligence, complicating U.S. efforts. Territorial disputes between South Korea and Japan have flared anew in recent weeks, underlining the challenge of creating unified command and control systems that would be used to shoot down incoming missiles.

The U.S. has faced a similar problem building an integrated missile-defense system in the Persian Gulf.

Once an X-Band identifies a missile's trajectory, the U.S. can deploy ship-or-land-based missile interceptors or antimissile systems.

The Navy has drawn up plans to expand its fleet of ballistic missile-defense-capable warships from 26 ships today to 36 by 2018, according to Navy officials and the Congressional Research Service. Officials said as many as 60% of those are likely to be deployed to Asia and the Pacific.

In addition, the U.S. Army is considering acquiring additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, antimissile systems, said a senior defense official. Under current plans, the Army is building six THAADs.

New US missile defense may include PH - report

MANILA, Philippines - The United States (US) is already planning an expansion of its missile defense in Asia, including the Philippines.

In a report from the Wall Street Journal, the buildup will supposedly be used to counter threats from North Korea and China.

The report said: “The expansion comes at a time when the U.S. and its allies in the region voice growing alarm about a North Korean missile threat. They are also increasingly worried about China's aggressive stance in disputed waters such the South China Sea, where Asian rivals are vying for control of oil and mineral rights.”

The report quoted Congressional Research Service missile-defense expert Steven Hildreth, who said that the US is looking “longer term at the elephant in the room, which is China.”

The report added that the expansion includes the deployment of an early-warning radar in the southern part of Japan.

The deployment of the so-called X-Band radar there is still being discussed, however. Earlier, both the allies already ruled out the deployment in Okinawa because of disapproval from residents.

As such, “Some U.S. defense officials have focused on the Philippines as the potential site for the third X-Band, which is manufactured by Raytheon Co. Pentagon officials said a location has yet to be determined and that discussions are at an early stage,” the report added.

The Philippines have lodged several protests against China for its incursion in several disputed areas, including the Scarborough Shoal.

China earlier rebuked a senior diplomat of the US there after he raised concerns over the tensions in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

The US embassy’s deputy chief of mission was even summoned to explain.

ABS-CBNnews.com

90-pct of Philippines' small-scale gold lost to smuggling, end up in China

Miners roll out sacks of boulders out of a tunnel, after a 24-hour shift at one of the hundreds of small mines on the rugged slopes of Mount Diwata in southern Philippines.

The boulders will be crushed and reduced to gold inggots. The miners are exhausted, but eager to cash in their labour's reward.

Camilo Landa, father of eight, has 18 grams of gold in his hand. His share of the day's output, after splitting with four other miners, is 5,400 pesos (125 US dollars). That's more than 10 times what a manual labourer earns daily in Manila.

"I'll be able to buy rice. I can pay our loans. I'm happy," Landa said.

High gold prices are raking in profits for miners, but the Philippine government is losing out.

In all likelihood, Landa's gold will find its way through middlemen and into the luggage of a tourist or Chinese-Filipino trader, or on a ship leaving through one the archipelago's dozens of unmanned ports - not to its only legal destination, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or the central bank.

Up to 90 percent of small-scale Philippine gold production is being smuggled out of the Southeast Asian country, with much of it going to China, Reuters learned on a visit to this mining region in Mindanao, combined with interviews with miners, traders, and officials as well as a review of gold trade data.

The potential revenue being lost is considerable: The Philippines is the world's 18th largest gold producer, according to precious metals consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS. It produced just over 1 million troy ounces of gold in 2011 - worth 1.6 billion U.S. dollars at current prices - and about 56 percent of that came from small-scale miners.

While production did not slow down, the volume of legal purchases plummeted.

This year, the amount of gold sold by small-scale miners and traders to the central bank in the second quarter fell 98 percent from a year earlier

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau, which regulates mining activities in the country, could only come up with one conclusion.

"The same amount of gold, but they went to underground. Our suspicion is that it' either black market or smuggled out of the country. So 80 percent of gold lost," said Leo Jasareno, director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

Jasareno said miners were telling them that traders sell the gold to foreign buyers.

"There are unconfirmed reports, that gold is going to, this is unconfirmed-is going to Hong kong, Malaysia, and China," Jasareno said.

He added that they would look into the involvement of organized crime groups in the loss of gold from the legal market, estimated to reach about 24 tonnes.

Traders and officials say the biggest factor behind the spike in the gold smuggling trend the past year are newly imposed taxes. Since 2011, every sale of gold has been subject to a 2 percent excise tax, and a 5 percent withholding tax, usually borne by traders.

Opposing the tax, many traders have turned to the black market, officials say.

Arthur Uy, who looks after Mount Diwata as governor of Compostela Valley province in southern Philippines, the top small-scale gold mining province in the Philippines, said the black market in gold is mainly based in the capital, Manila.

"The black market now is flourishing, so they would send their produce now to the black market; because the businessmen doing those black market activities, they would only impose, let's say less 2 or 3 percent only," Uy said.

Uy, a two-term governor whose family of Chinese descent partly owns one of the four most productive small-scale mines on Mount Diwata, said 90 percent of gold produced is going to the black market and mostly ends up smuggled to Hong Kong.

If the 1991 small-scale mining law were being followed, all the gold produced by miners in the Philippines would be sold to the central bank, which buys it at around world market prices.

Small-scale gold mines, accounting for more than two-thirds of the Philippines' total output, are the main source of the central bank's gold reserves, which hit a record high of 10.4 billion U.S. dollars early this year

With most of the gold production from these mines now illegally exiting the country, the Philippine central bank is losing its cheapest source of gold reserves.

The problem extends beyond gold to other minerals, which are being smuggled out of the porous and inadequately policed borders of this archipelago of more than 7,100 islands.

The Philippines is believed to hold reserves of gold, copper, nickel, chromite, manganese, silver and iron worth a total of around 1 trillion U.S. dollars.

Traders and officials say it looks like much of the gold is going instead to Hong Kong, the main conduit for gold flows into China.

A discrepancy between statistics between Hong Kong's and Philippines has left officials stumped.

Hong Kong's top source of gold imports from 2005 to 2010 was the Philippines, official data from the Chinese territory shows. Philippines gold shipments to Hong Kong hit a peak of 81,471 kilograms in 2010, way above imports of just 11 kilos nine years earlier, and were steady at 81,192 kilos in 2011.

But official statistics in the Philippines, reflecting legal exports, show gold exports to Hong Kong in 2010 and 2011 at just around 3 percent of the total volume recorded by Hong Kong authorities.

The Philippine customs data represent only shipments by big mining firms with supply contracts, as exports of gold from small-scale mines are banned.

Gold prices, which have been trending at or near historic highs for several years, have spurred illegal gold mining around the world. Illegal mining now accounts for up to 15 percent of the global gold output, according to Canada-based Artisanal Gold Council.

Purchase of new presidential aircraft pushed

MANILA, Philippines - The House opposition bloc pressed yesterday for the acquisition of new aircraft for President Aquino to replace the aging airplanes in the presidential fleet. “You cannot put a price tag on the President’s security,” House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said.

“If they (administration lawmakers) don’t want to be criticized, then we in the opposition will push for this (purchase of new presidential aircraft).”

“If the President is worried about possible criticism, these (aircraft) will be used by his successors and succeeding Cabinet officials as well,” he said.

Suarez said the opposition has proposed the re-fleeting of the presidential wing in the past and the death of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo in a plane crash prompted them to revive their proposal.

The 250th Presidential Airlift Wing based in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City handles the air transport of the President. 

The presidential fleet is comprised of two Fokker planes – one turboprop and one jet – and about three to four aging and repainted Bell helicopters. 

“The airplanes are nearly half a century old and Fokker has closed down so there are no more spareparts,” Suarez said.

Several officials died when a helicopter crashed during the Arroyo administration.

Suarez suggested that Malacañang buy four planes – two jets and two turboprops – and two helicopters.

The entire package could cost about $80 million, he said.

“They’re cheap... we can just include that in the budget,” he said.

The two propeller-driven aircraft can be used for local sorties while the two jets would be flown for both local and regional flights.

He said the pairing of the aircraft are necessary since there would be downtime or periodic maintenance work on the aircraft and at any time, at least two planes must be ready for presidential use.