MANILA: The potential purchase of F-16 jets by the Philippines from the United States does not harm the interests of any third party, including China, a Philippine security official said on Thursday (Apr 3).
National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya assured China the planned acquisition is not intended as a threat to any nation and is merely part of the Philippines’ efforts to modernise its military.
“We would like to assure the People’s Republic of China that the planned procurement of the F-16 fighter jets to the Philippine arsenal does not in any way harm the interest of any third party,” Malaya told a briefing.
The US Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Tuesday that the State Department had approved a possible foreign military sale to the Philippines of 20 F-16 planes for an estimated cost of US$5.58 billion.
The aircraft would boost the Philippine military’s ability to patrol its territory and improve interoperability between their militaries, the Pentagon said.
Malaya said the US government has not officially communicated the approval to the Philippines.
The announcement came after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manila last week, where he reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to its mutual defence treaty with the Philippines and pledged to deploy advanced capabilities to strengthen deterrence against threats, including Chinese “aggression”.
On Wednesday, China warned Manila against the purchase, saying that the Philippines was “threatening” regional peace.
“The Philippines’ defence and security cooperation with other countries should not target any third party or harm the interests of a third party. Nor should it threaten regional peace and security or exacerbate regional tensions,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
China has expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled that China’s claims have no basis under international law, a ruling Beijing does not recognise.
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