The Aquino administration's 2011 decision to shift Philippine defense policy from internal security to territorial defense: The impact of the South China Sea dispute

• Main Author: De Castro, Renato Cruz
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Philippines > Military policy; Philippine Sea > Boundaries > South China Sea; South China Sea > Boundaries > Philippine Sea; Defense and Security Studies; Peace and Conflict Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/1857
• Institution: De La Salle University

This article examines how the South China Sea dispute impacts on the Aquino administration's 2011 decision to shift the focus of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from internal security to territorial defense. Upon assuming office in 2010, President Benigno Aquino announced his intention to modernize the AFP, to buttress the country's territorial defense, and to check China's aggressive assertion of its sovereignty over the South China Sea. However, the lack of financial support from the Philippine Congress prevented the immediate implementation of the plan. The March 2, 2011 incident between a Philippine survey ship and two Chinese patrol boats at Reed Bank, however, prompted the Aquino administration to redirect the country's security focus. The incident also triggered a strong clamor from the military and other government institutions for the allocation of resources to the development of the AFP's territorial defense capabilities. China's heavy-handed behavior in the South China Sea, as well as its uncompromising diplomatic posturing, further convinced the Aquino administration of the inevitability of facing China militarily in the near future. Coincidentally, the United States supports the Philippines' shift to territorial/maritime defense and pledges to provide its ally with affordable military hardware. In conclusion, the article observes that the convergence of strategic and diplomatic events-an offshoot of the March 2 Reed Bank incident-finally made the Aquino administration and the AFP take the first step in the long and arduous process of building a modest military capability for territorial defense. © 2012 Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.