By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter
POLAND is open to participating and observing joint military exercises with the Philippines and its allies in the South China Sea amid China’s growing assertiveness in the waterway, according to the chargé d’ affaires at its embassy in Manila
“We discussed this issue (joint exercises) with Defense Secretary (Gilberto Eduardo Gerardo C.), but we are welcome, we are open,” Jarosław Szczepankiewicz, chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Poland in Manila, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines a security forum in Taguig City on Thursday.
He said his country is also willing to help the Philippines train its personnel in cybersecurity and other ways to boost the country’s technological capabilities.
Poland Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and deputy ministers are visiting Manila to meet with their Philippine counterparts to boost security and trade cooperation between both countries.
“Information technology systems are attacked permanently, and data is stolen, used against the country,” Mr. Szczepankiewicz said.
“This is an element in creating resilience of the country, the defense of the country.”
In 2016, a Hague-based arbitration court upheld the Philippines’ rights to its exclusive economic zone within the waterway. It rejected China’s claim to most of the sea based on a 1940s nine-dash line map that Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo has said “had no basis in law.
Manila has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet
“We are keenly aware that the rivalry between China and the United States, that includes America’s allies in this region, could have an impact on us, both abroad and in the West,” Mr. Sikorski said at the security forum.
“We hope that the differences between countries can be resolved in a peaceful manner, because another world war is the last thing we want.”
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo earlier said the Philippine side had raised its concern over the fact that the Philippine Coast Guard vessel was hit by a Chinese vessel near Sabina Shoal at the weekend.
A Philippine task force handling sea disputes with Beijing on Saturday accused a Chinese vessel of “deliberately” ramming the Philippines’ largest coast guard vessel named BRP Teresa Magbanua thrice near Sabina Shoal.
The Chinese Coast Guard vessel caused significant damage to BRP Teresa Magbanua and endangered the lives of its personnel, the task force said.
Last month, the US and French navies held war games in the Philippine Sea to advance their interoperability “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to the US 7th Fleet.
Manila, Washington, Ottawa and Canberra held their first joint military exercises in the South China Sea on Aug. 7 and 8 amid Beijing’s increased military buildup in the waterway.
“We are both countries with more powerful neighbors who see our defense of our own independence and borders as somehow an inconvenience for them,” Mr. Sikorski said.
“In other words, they offer us peace at the price of capitulation, and I think we are both determined not to allow that again.”