Posted at Oct 07 2016 02:38 PM

President Rodrigo Duterte does a fist gesture with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and military top generals at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on September 13. Toto Lozano, Malacanang photo
MANILA - US-Philippines ties are going through "bumps on the road" and the Philippine military could manage if treaty ally the United States were to withdraw aid, the defense minister said on Friday.
The Philippines intended to buy arms from China and Russia and there had been no adverse reaction from within the military to President Rodrigo Duterte's vows to scale back defense ties with the United States, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana's remarks suggested he was following other top officials in Duterte's administration in rallying behind the maverick president's tough anti-US agenda after weeks of scrambling to manage the fallout from his outbursts and threats to downgrade the alliance.
Lorenzana had on Wednesday set a conciliatory tone, saying Duterte may have been misinformed when he said US-Philippine military exercises were no benefit to his country.
But on Friday Lorenzana said the value of US military aid to the Philippines was "not that much", and the military could ask Congress to make up for a shortfall of some $50 million-$100 million a year in US military aid.
"We can live without (that)," Lorenzana told a foreign correspondents' forum.
Duterte, well known for a ruthless stand against crime from his years as mayor of a southern city, won the May election on a promise to wipe out drugs and drug dealers.
Some 3,600 people have been killed in his anti-drugs drive and he has been enraged by questions about human rights, from the United States and others, that the bloodshed has raised.
Duterte said on Thursday if the United States and European Union objected to his drugs war and wished to withdraw aid, they should do so, and the Philippines would not beg.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby responded to that saying total US assistance to the Philippines in the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 was $180 million "and we're committed" to delivering that.
'NOT TOO DEPENDENT'
Lorenzana said he believed Duterte's objective was to diversify Philippines' foreign ties and cut dependency on former colonial ruler the United States.
"The president is trying to develop a relationship with the US that is not too dependent on one country," he said.
Duterte has caused a diplomatic storm by declaring that joint US-Philippines military exercises would cease, a defense agreement would be reviewed and, at an undisclosed time, he might "break up" with the United States.
On Monday, Duterte said US President Barack Obama should "go to hell".
Lorenzana said there had been no official directive to scrap a two-year-old Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement. He said the uncertainty in the US-Philippines relationship was "just going through these bumps on the road".
"Maybe we should re-assess (the relationship)," he said. "Are we benefiting, are we getting what we should be getting from alliance? It is part of this growing up."
He said Duterte was sensitive to concerns about his drugs war and it was likely the president would dial down his rhetoric if questions from the West about human rights stopped.
Asked how changes in the security relationship could impact a strategic US "rebalance" to Asia, he said: "They are not lacking of any place to park their ships if they are no longer allowed to park their ships here."
He said there might be some issues of compatibility with defense procurements from Russia and China, which were willing to sell to the Philippines.
A Philippine dispute with China over sovereignty in the South China Sea would not impede defense procurements, he said, adding there had been no discussion of the two countries working together militarily.
"All we are thinking now is buying equipment," he said. "No talks yet about military alliance. Just simple transaction of buying equipment."
Lorenzana's show of accord with Duterte's anti-US stand follows a similar tough line from Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay who said this week Duterte wanted to liberate the country from a "shackling dependency" on the United States.
Yasay said the president was "compelled to realign" Philippine foreign policy and not submit to US demands and interests
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China says sensitive issues could damage ties with US military

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Jul 26 2016 10:33 AM
BEIJING - Failure to properly handle sensitive issues between the US and China could ''very likely disturb and undermine'' their military-to-military relations, a top Chinese official told US National Security Advisor Susan Rice Monday.
Rice is the highest-level US official to visit the capital since an international tribunal this month rejected China's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea -- infuriating Beijing and fueling tensions with Washington.
Her trip is intended to prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a G20 summit in the city of Hangzhou in September.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing's claim to nearly all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighboring nations.
In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, sparking anger in China which has built a series of artificial islands in the area capable of supporting military operations.
President Xi Jinping told Rice at a meeting Monday that China was "strongly committed" to building good relations with the US based upon the ideas of "no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation".
But at an earlier encounter with Rice, top Chinese official Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission warned that ties between the two powers could easily fray.
"We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we’re still faced with obstacles and challenges," he said, adding that military ties had been "impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors".
"If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship," he warned.
Rice noted that "risks of unintended consequences" of the two countries' forces operating in ever-closer proximity had been reduced thanks to better communication and other confidence-building measures.
But despite progress, "we have challenges and differences to discuss and to manage", she said.
In conversation with Xi, Rice stated that the US viewed its relationship with China as "the most consequential in the world today".
"We view China's success as being in America's interest, given our growing interdependence," she said.
China rejected the tribunal ruling on the South China Sea as "waste paper" and asserted its right, if it chooses, to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone controlling flights over the area.
At a regional summit in Vientiane Monday Southeast Asian nations avoided rebuking Beijing or mentioning the ruling, in a joint statement seen as a victory for China.
Rice made no direct mention of the tribunal verdict. But the topic nonetheless looms large over her four-day trip, which also includes a stop in Shanghai to meet business leaders.
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