PHL seeks ‘real-time’ US help in disputed South China Sea

(Updated 7:55 p.m.) The Philippines has sought help from the United States to monitor "real-time" developments in the South China Sea, providing surveillance and reconnaissance, a military spokesman said on Thursday, amid China's rapid expansion in the area.

Col. Restituto Padilla said the Department of National Defense asked US Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris, who was in the Philippines for a three-day visit, to provide air cover to a Philippine civilian ship that regularly delivers supplies to Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal) in the disputed waters.

"We want the US military to watch over our ships, which China attempts to block every time we rotate troops and bring supplies to a ship that ran aground on Ayungin shoal," Padilla said.

Harris was in Palawan on Thursday to see first-hand the situation in the area near where China has built artificial islands.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez, commander of Armed Forces of the Philippines' Western Command (Wescom), told journalists that the US commander promised to help its oldest ally in the Asia-Pacific, but would also prevent conflict from erupting.

"They would want to be neutral. They won't take sides…They will be rooting for regional peace and stability, that’s all what they want. They don’t want violence to break out," he said, adding the was no US commitment about deploying US ships or aircraft in the disputed areas.

Without elaborating, Lopez said they briefed Harris on the recent developments in the South China Sea.

“He is an operational commander and I am also an operational commander, so it's a matter of meeting of the minds [on] how do we do things,” he said.

Wescom spokesperson Lt. Cherryl Tindog said among the topics discussed was China's reclamation and construction activities in the West Philippine Sea "because that is our biggest concern."

AFP chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri, who met with Harris last Wednesday, was present during the meeting at the Wescom headquarters in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

“The trip of Admiral Harris to the Western Command was dubbed by the AFP as a sort of area familiarization for the new Commander of the Pacific Command,” said Padilla.

Padilla said Iriberri described the meeting "as a great opportunity to further enhance a long lasting and enduring alliance."

"It was also in furtherance of a collective effort at ensuring regional security and stability as well as leveling of expectations," he added.

Defense spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said Harris and Secretary Voltaire Gazmin discussed during their meeting last Wednesday the possible US assistance to resupply Filipino troops occupying some of the islands in the Spratlys.— Reuters with Andrei Medina/KBK, GMA News