Senate panel approves PH SOVFA with France
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Thursday the Philippines has “no choice” but to expand its defense partnerships as its territory comes under pressure from China, as a Senate committee approved a proposed visiting forces agreement with France.
According to Teodoro, having more defense partners would strengthen the country’s deterrence.
“For the Philippines, we view it as a matter of no choice because our territories are under severe stress, to put it politely, by the unilateral and illegal acts of China,” he told senators during a hearing.
“Thus, we cannot deny the fact that as many coalition partners we have, it adds to our deterrent posture in this country,” Teodoro said.
Legal framework
The Senate committee on foreign relations chaired by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri approved the Philippines-France Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (Sovfa). clearing the way for its endorsement to the plenary.
The pact, the country’s first with a European nation, establishes a legal framework for the presence and activities of visiting Filipino and French defense personnel in each other’s territory, subject to its provisions and the countries’ domestic approval processes.
Teodoro said France was an important strategic partner because it is both a European and Pacific power, with territories in the Pacific, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
He also pointed to France’s support for the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral award on the South China Sea and its commitment to freedom of navigation and international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
At the same time, Teodoro said he expected China to maintain its increasingly assertive behavior in the West Philippine Sea and urged the Philippines and its partners to change how they respond.
“I think we will see more of the same. We should not expect any change in their behavior; what we should change is the way we react,” Teodoro said at the 2nd Manila Strategy Forum in Parañaque City, also on Thursday.
He cited China’s activities in the West Philippine Sea, including what he described as harassment of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and naval vessels and aircraft, as well as its recent announcement of plans to establish a marine observatory at Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).
Chinese forces, meanwhile, twice fired flares on Monday at an unarmed PCG plane on a routine surveillance flight over the Kalayaan Island Group before landing on Pag-asa Island.
The PCG reported the incident on Thursday, saying that People’s Liberation Army forces at Zamora (Subi) Reef first challenged its aircraft over the radio before firing flares in its direction—a tactic they repeated shortly after at Panganiban (Mischief) Reef.
The Coast Guard said the incident raised flight safety concerns, adding that the discharge of flares against an aircraft in flight disregarded the duty of due regard under the Convention on International Civil Aviation. —WITH A REPORT FROM KEITH CLORES
