By Franz-Stefan Gady
Manila feels harassed by Beijing when resupplying its military personnel in the West Philippine Sea.
Last week, Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin requested military assistance from the head of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris Jr., to strengthen the Philippines’ position in the South China Sea, AFP reports.
According to Colonel Restituto Padilla, a military spokersperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), “[i]t was a specific request on the part of the secretary of national defense to Harris to get their assistance in… resupplying and rotating troops.”
He emphasized that Admiral Harris made no commitment during the meeting to fulfill the request concerning the “West Philippine Sea” (Manila’s name for the closest section of South China Sea). “They just took our requests and the details still have to be discussed,” Padilla said. Reuters, however, did report that U.S. Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez told local media that Harris pledged his support to help the United States’ oldest ally in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Philippines specifically asked the United States for assistance in monitoring the situation in the South China Sea in “real-time” by providing surveillance and reconnaissance assets, as well as air cover to a civilian ship that supplies military personnel stationed on and around the Second Thomas Shoal.
Read the full story at The Diplomat