Philippines’ Duterte eyes arms from China, ends joint patrols with United States
Philippine leader calls for end to joint sea patrols with the US after his demand for special forces to leave, but officials insist relations are ‘rock solid’
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he’s considering buying weapons from Russia and China and ending joint patrols with US forces in the South China Sea.
In a televised speech on Tuesday before military officers in Manila, Duterte said that two countries – which he didn’t identify – had agreed to give the Philippines a 25-year soft loan to buy military equipment. Later, he said Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and “technical people” in the armed forces would visit China and Russia “and see what’s best”.
I don’t need jets, F-16 – that’s of no use to us ... we don’t intend to fight any country
In his speech, Duterte said the Philippines needs propeller-driven planes that it can use against insurgents and fight terrorists in Mindanao. He said he wanted to buy arms “where they are cheap and where there are no strings attached and it is transparent”. “I don’t need jets, F-16 – that’s of no use to us,” Duterte said. “We don’t intend to fight any country.”
Since 1950, the US has accounted for about 75 per cent of the Philippines’ arms imports, according to a database from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Russia and China haven’t supplied any weapons in that time, it showed.
The US would probably move diplomatically to prevent the Philippines from procuring a major defence system from China, according to Jon Grevatt, an defence industry analyst at IHS Jane’s in Bangkok. The Southeast Asian nation’s defence procurement budget climbed to 25 billion pesos (HK$4.08 billion) this year – up more than 60 per cent from 2015, according to IHS Janes data.
