The territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea remained a security challenge despite an improvement in bilateral ties, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday as he accepted three maritime surveillance planes from Japan. Current top breaking Philippine headlines regarding the nation, world, metro manila, regions and
The territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea remained a security challenge despite an improvement in bilateral ties, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday as he accepted three maritime surveillance planes from Japan. Lorenzana, in a speech at a naval base south of the capital Manila, said the three Japanese donated second-hand TC90 planes will definitely boost the navy's capability to gather intelligence in the disputed South China Sea. "We must admit that much still has to be done to boost our military capability equipment in order to meet a number of persistent maritime security challenges," Lorenzana said, identifying territorial disputes with China, and other countries, over resource-rich areas in the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, where about $5 trillion worth of sea-borne goods pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims in the strategic waterway. The Philippines refers to parts of the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.
