Golez: Headline: "Duterte FLOPS on US Relations, War Games and Defense pacts."
The headline is not correct. The President, according to the SND, is scrapping the CARAT and PHIBLEX exercises, the very heart of the Mutual Defense Treaty exercises.
The Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Philippines or CARAT between the US and Philippine forces will be discontinued, as announced by the SND.
CARAT would have been useful in training Philippine Navy units in a situation where the country is facing attacks from hostile surface and submarine forces, as envisioned in the Mutual Defense Treaty. that would not anymore be possible with the SND's announcement that CARAT has been discontinued.
PHIBLEX or US-Philippines Amphibious Landing Exercise, will be discontinued according to the SND. The objective of PHIBLEX is to train on how to retake an area or island captured by hostile forces, using combined US and Philippine amphibious forces (Philippine Marines and US Marines). This is a Mutual Defense Treaty exercise designed to make the Mutual Defense Treaty operational in case of a contingency resulting from an external armed attack.
The Balikatan exercises as announced will be limited to "drills on counter-terrorism, humanitarian response, special operations on counterterrorism, engineering projects, civic action." Those exercises are not for mutual defense. The are not for defense against an external threat.
Duterte FLOPS On US Relations, War Games And Defense Pacts
12:44 PM 11/08/2016
The president of the Philippines has decided not to scrap defense deals and war games with the U.S., despite slamming America for months.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he would permit the continuation of the Balikatan war games and implement the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), Rappler reports.
EDCA gives the U.S. access to five military bases in the Philippines and aids American forward deployment. The agreement was heralded as a victory for the U.S.-Philippine alliance under the previous administration. Joint military exercises put pressure on Chinese activities in the South China Sea in an effort to preserve the rules-based international order.
Duterte has blasted the U.S. for months now. He promised to “break up with America” and then announcedhis “separation from America.”
“I would serve notice to you now that this will be the last military exercise,” Duterte said after the Balikatan joint military exercises in September. He also cancelled joint naval patrols in the South China Sea.
“You have the EDCA. Well, forget it. If I stay here long enough, one day that EDCA will, if it’s an executive agreement, then I will just …,” Duterte, making a sweeping gesture with his hands, explained in October. “I want, maybe in the next two years, my country to be free of the presence of foreign military troops.”
“The Philippines can live without the U.S.,” Duterte added.
Yet, the bombastic president of the Philippines, who is known for his foul-mouthed tirades against the U.S. and others who displease him, has done a complete 180 on war games and defense pacts.
The shift appears to be the result of pressure from defense and military officials, which have strong ties to the U.S. “He practically approved all our recommendations,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana revealed.
Duterte’s change of heart may also have to do with China’s insistence that nothing has changed at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, hurting the dream that China and the Philippines may be able to establish some form of rapprochement.
While Duterte has approved war games and EDCA, the declaration that the Philippines will not conduct joint drills in the West Philippine Sea with the U.S. still stands.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/08/duterte-flops-on-us-relations-war-games-and-defense-pacts/#ixzz4PRqoOQCJ
