| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines how the South China Sea dispute impacts on the Aquino
administration's 2011 decision to shift the focus of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) from internal security to territorial defense. Upon assuming
office in 2010, President Benigno Aquino announced his intention to modernize
the AFP, to buttress the country's territorial defense, and to check China's
aggressive assertion of its sovereignty over the South China Sea. However, the
lack of financial support from the Philippine Congress prevented the immediate
implementation of the plan. The March 2, 2011 incident between a Philippine
survey ship and two Chinese patrol boats at Reed Bank, however, prompted the
Aquino administration to redirect the country's security focus. The incident also
triggered a strong clamor from the military and other government institutions for
the allocation of resources to the development of the AFP's territorial defense
capabilities. China's heavy-handed behavior in the South China Sea, as well as its
uncompromising diplomatic posturing, further convinced the Aquino administration
of the inevitability of facing China militarily in the near future. Coincidentally,
the United States supports the Philippines' shift to territorial/maritime defense
and pledges to provide its ally with affordable military hardware. In conclusion, the
article observes that the convergence of strategic and diplomatic events-an offshoot
of the March 2 Reed Bank incident-finally made the Aquino administration and
the AFP take the first step in the long and arduous process of building a modest
military capability for territorial defense.
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