Philippines, US Oppose Beijing’s Activities in S. China Sea

FILE - A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft takes off during a tour of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier on patrol in the South China Sea May 23, 2013.

Manila - The Philippines is looking to its alliance with the United States to try to keep up with China’s reclamation activities in disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Senior officials from both countries strengthened their strategic alliance during two days of bilateral talks on trade and defense that ended Wednesday in Manila.

High on the agenda was maritime security, as well as concerns about China’s ongoing reclamation work on reefs and shoals in the Spratly Islands that the Philippines claims.

Last month the Philippine military’s chief of staff said based on intelligence information, facilities at one of the larger outcroppings, Fiery Cross Reef, could be completed soon.

Philippine Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino calls development at the reef, which in November appeared to be expanding to accommodate an airstrip, “a very serious concern.”  But the Philippines, with one of the smallest military budgets in Asia, is powerless to stop any of it.

“We have to increase our capabilities and that will only come through modernization," Batino said. "This is a realization of course ... of the needed modernization that we needed to implement earlier.” © Provided by Simone Orendain l Voice Of America