ALEX MAGNO: ALLIANCES
MANILA, JUNE 26, 2011 (STAR) FIRST PERSON By Alex Magno - First, it was US Ambassador Thomas who reassured us that his country will stand by its treaty commitments to the Philippines in the face of escalating tensions in the Spratlys. Then, last week, senior US senator John McCain publicly urged his government to extend stronger diplomatic support to an ally in the face of China's bullying tactics.
The other day, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reassured us that her country will stand by its treaty commitments. That is, by far, the highest level statement on the matter. It is a statement we sought through determined diplomacy.
The quick sequence of statements made by US leaders precipitated an early response from Beijing. China asked the US to stay out of the South China Sea dispute, basically suggesting that the Americans are not party to the matter.
The US, however, has strategic interests in the on-going controversy. The accessibility of the strategic sea lane from the Singapore strait to the powerhouse economies of East Asia is a major American concern. The US is a mutual defense treaty partner of the Philippines and America sees the larger ASEAN community as a long-term alliance. Any escalation of tensions in the South China Sea will be an item of great concern for Washington.
Even as senior US leaders have expressed what seems to be Washington's standing policy position on the Spratlys dispute, some doubt have been expressed on our end about the reliability of US support.
Anti-Americanism has deep roots among the Filipino intelligentsia, who have long discarded illusions about US altruism. It is understandable that, almost as a reflex, many of our commentators point out the fact that China has emerged to be America's biggest creditor. That country is also the most attractive market for US goods and the source of light manufactures.
On both ends, the US-China axis is surely the most important strategic relationship today, inconvenient as that relationship might seem most of the time. Over the long haul, this bilateral relationship between the two economic superpowers will shape the course of global events.
However, it is also an evolving relationship. The US would rather be optimistic that as China rises to prosperity, it will likewise evolve into a more open society and a more responsive state.
China, too, has been increasingly conscious about how the rest of the world appreciates its growing power. For this reason, Beijing has increasingly emphasized the importance of putting soft diplomacy first, concentrating on improving market access and keeping its military might as invisible as possible. The Spratlys row is, to be sure, an inconvenience for them because it exposes them to diplomatic isolation and calls attention to her military build-up.
Very few think that the Spratlys dispute will ever escalate into a shooting war. Nations are vastly wiser today than they were in the past and we all know no one really wins a hot war. The instruments of diplomacy today are vastly more efficacious than before.
From Washington's point of view, however, it is important to maintain global confidence in treaty commitments she makes. While working hard behind the scenes to deescalate tensions in the area, it is important for the Americans to reiterate their adherence to standing treaty commitments. That is at it is, and we ought not to make the mistake of wrongly interpreting the signals from Washington as a go-ahead to rattle sabers.
Bird strike
The birds, understandably, love the Manila airport aerodrome. It is a large open space straddling two bodies of water.
Birds love the open space because it allows them to detect predators early. The bodies of water on either end ensure the food supply for the birds, many of them migratory.
Over the last few years, there has been a steady increase in reports of bird strikes on planes taking off or landing at the Manila airport. We saw from that incident where a plane made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York last year what could happen from a serious bird strike. That New York incident was caused by birds sucked into the jet engines of the plane, disabling those engines immediately.
The rising incidence of birds strikes at the Manila runway should be a serious safety concern for the thousands of Filipinos flying in and out of that facility — as well as to tens of thousands of residents in the vicinity who are vulnerable to a crash.
Two weeks ago, finally, a top-level "bird incident" meeting was convened among officials tasked with ensuring flight safety at the Manila airport. The meeting took note of the rising incidence of bird strikes and studied measures to address the occurrence. One concrete outcome of that meeting is a draft ordinance considered by the City of Paranaque regulating the breeding, raising and domestication of birds within a one-mile radius of the busy airstrip.
The imminent cause for the rising incidence of bird strikes at the airport appears to be the thin stretch of mangroves along the reclaimed area along Manila Bay. Over many years, while the area lay idle due to layers of legal disputes over who owns them, migratory birds began to settle in the mangroves which are right on the flight path of the planes.
Now there is a looming battle between bird lovers and environmentalists on one hand and the airport authority on the other. The bird lovers want to preserve what has become a bird sanctuary. The airport authorities want to clear the flight path of birds in the interest of public safety.
Since we cannot move the airport so that the flight path does not conflict with the birds, the only solution is to relocate the bird sanctuary out of the flight path. These are migratory birds anyway and should not mind if we develop a new mangrove sanctuary further south along the Cavite coast.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
