「平時不燒香，臨時抱[美利堅]佛腳」、咎由自取的菲律賓人現在正在亡羊補牢，但還是死要面子(中)
[提醒或建議: 本文篇幅不短，不習慣閱讀英文的鄉親或網友請跳過英文]
三
我們把話題拉回現在的菲律賓。
4/28/2014，歐巴馬抵達馬尼拉，進行訪問，在他抵達前數小時，一項名為The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement的行政協議被敲定(這是行政協議，不是條約，無需兩國的立法機關的批准)。
菲律賓人民與台灣人民是兩個近年來犯了不可原諒的錯誤、自作孽不可活的人民，一個可悲的人民就是台灣住民，說清楚些，就是那些支持或投票給馬英九的選民，那些選民除了一些本來就是活得不耐煩的、親中賣台的敗類之外，其餘都是令人難以理解的選民，那些令人難以理解的選民也許根本都知道馬英九是個傾中賣台敗類，但是他們還是要把票投給他，他們都是不見棺材不流淚、自尋死路的人，由於他們犯錯，讓台灣踏入險境，在傾中賣台敗類治理下，台灣隨時都有亡於中國之手的危險。另一個可笑的人民是沒有能預見中國這個「新邪惡帝國」的竄起會給他們帶來禍害的短視菲律賓人民，他們在1992年硬是把鎮守西太平洋的美軍給趕走，他們以為這樣就可以揚眉吐氣，就可以從此擺脫「美帝」的陰影，從此可以站起來，從此可以不再需要Uncle Sam的保護了，從此他們就都成為有尊嚴的菲律賓人了，但不過十來年，就證明當年那些菲律賓人多數只是一群被歷史嘲笑的蠢蛋。
建州運動先請鄉親們讀美國這一方面關於歐巴馬菲律賓之行的報導，我們挑選「華爾街日報」的報導做為代表。
“Manila Welcomes U.S. Defense Pact”
By Trevor Moss
The Wall Street Journal
4/26/2014
MANILA—Opposition to American military involvement in the Philippines forced Washington to abandon what once was its largest overseas Navy base, Subic Bay, in 1992, along with the rest of its military network in the country.
Now, more than two decades later, Manila is urging Washington to come back, and not just to Subic.
That change of heart, driven by worsening fears over China's military rise, forms the backdrop to President Barack Obama's two-day trip to Manila starting Monday, the first by a U.S. president since 2003.
The centerpiece of the trip is expected to be the signing of a new Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation that would pave the way for U.S. forces to return to the Philippines, albeit on a rotational basis. After nine months of negotiations, Manila and Washington announced in early April that they had produced a draft of the agreement, fueling expectations that the pact would be formally signed during Mr. Obama's visit.
While details of the size and locations of any U.S. deployments haven't yet been made public, the Philippine government has stressed that it wouldn't turn back the clock to the days when the U.S. military ran its own installations here. The Philippine Senate tore up its long-standing security treaty with the U.S. in September 1991, effectively ordering the Americans to wind up their extensive military bases in the country.
With foreign bases now banned by the national constitution, U.S. forces would instead be granted access to existing Philippine bases, over which Manila will retain ultimate control. The U.S. would be able to build new facilities on existing bases to store humanitarian and disaster relief equipment.
Although there is a 700-strong U.S. counterterrorism unit active in the southern Philippines as part of a post-9/11 agreement, it is only allowed in an advisory role.
There is still some resistance to bringing the Americans back in bigger numbers. Some of the nationalist politicians who lobbied to oust the U.S. two decades ago haven't changed their views, and some constitutional experts question the legality of any potential new pact. Small-scale antiwar protests are expected during Mr. Obama's visit.
U.S. officials said not to expect any influx of additional American troops after the agreement is signed. Any larger American presence is likely months or even years away. "We are not moving back in," one official said.
Washington also faces a tricky balancing act in returning to the Philippines, since it doesn't want to provoke China, which has overlapping territorial claims with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Public opinion has shifted toward greater support for a U.S. presence in the Philippines as Manila's relationship with Beijing has soured. China has become more assertive in the region, and Beijing and Manila have been locked in a dispute over the Scarborough and Ayungin shoals in the Spratly Islands. China insists that it is merely defending its sovereignty, arguing that it has a centuries-old claim to the South China Sea that Manila can't match. Beijing has refused to participate in a U.N. tribunal initiated by Manila to resolve the impasse.
[以下的內容只出現在4/25/2014「華爾街日報」的網站上，沒有出現在4/26/2014的平面媒體上。]
"Ordinary people in the Philippines have already accepted that China is the threat, and that they took the U.S. for granted," said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform in Manila. "The expectation is that the U.S. will act as a deterrent."
In February, Social Weather Stations, a Philippine polling company, reported that trust in America was up to a record plus-82—a net figure that measures the percentage of people who trust the U.S., minus the percentage of people who don't. That was up from a low of plus-19 in 2004. Views of China have become overwhelmingly negative, falling to minus-17, from a peak of plus-19 in 2009, before the South China Sea issue flared.
The same poll also found that 93% of Filipinos wanted their government to take tougher action against China in defense of national sovereignty.
Many Filipinos are hopeful the U.S. won't confine its activities to Subic Bay, and will also consider deploying personnel or equipment to other sites. They include Oyster Bay, on the ribbonlike island of Palawan just outside the so-called nine-dash line marking Beijing's maritime claims, as well as what once was Clark Air Base in Central Luzon and a possible Marine command post at a place called Brooke's Point in southern Palawan.
Last year, the Philippine military announced plans to spend 313 million pesos ($7 million) upgrading Naval Station Carlito Cunanan, a small Philippine Navy outpost at Oyster Bay, so that it could accommodate up to four naval frigates and, potentially, U.S. military personnel.
People familiar with the workings of the base said the upgrade program had yet to begin, though they expressed hope the U.S. defense agreement would expedite matters. As part of a recent exercise, a team of Seabees—U.S. Navy engineers—joined Philippine Navy personnel to build a two-classroom annex for the local elementary school, handing it over in February.
The Philippine Department of National Defense and the U.S. Embassy in Manila declined to comment.
"Anything that brings American troops to Puerto Princesa or Palawan is a welcome thing," said Edward S. Hagedorn, the former mayor of Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital of Palawan. Residents feel vulnerable as China presses its claims to nearby islands, he said.
At Subic Bay, meanwhile, anticipation is rising that American military personnel could once again be present in significant numbers, rather than simply passing through on occasional port calls, as they have in recent years.
The abrupt U.S. departure in 1992 left a void that Subic—then wholly dependent on base income—has struggled to fill. The residents of Olongapo City, where Subic is situated, are still bitter that the Americans, who provided some 25,000 local jobs, were forced to leave.
"The anti-U.S. base people complained, but where were they afterwards when we were going hungry?" asked Olongapo Mayor Rolen C. Paulino.
Subic has been repurposed as a free-trade zone, comprising shipbuilding and maintenance operations, a container port, and other businesses.
Yet dilapidated warehouses with peeling paintwork and long-broken windows still characterize areas of the once-sprawling facility. Cubi Point, formerly a naval air station servicing hundreds of fighter jets and which the U.S. Navy demolished a mountain to build, sits forlorn and unused, except for an occasional light aircraft whirring through.
Nevertheless, Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Municipal Authority, said that an American presence was now mainly desirable from a security, rather than a financial, standpoint.
"This is a crisis situation right now," he said of the pressure being applied by the Chinese, noting that Scarborough Shoal is only 120 miles from Subic Bay.
接下來，我們來讀菲律賓方面的報導，我們以The Manila Standard Today這份報紙的報導為代表。
“PH, US okay new deal”
By Francisco Tuyay
The Manila Standard Today
Apr. 28, 2014 at 12:01am
Defense pact to be signed hours before Obama visit
THE Philippines said Sunday it would sign a 10-year agreement with the United States today to allow a greater US military presence on its territory amid its bitter territorial dispute with China.
A statement from the Defense Department on Sunday said the signing would take place in Manila on Monday morning, a few hours before US President Barack Obama was due to arrive for a two-day visit.
Quoting Philippine government sources, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua added that the 10-year defense pact, finalized after eight rounds of talks that began in August 2013, grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and pre-position equipment, aircraft and vessels, but rules out permanent basing.
Sources said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will be signed as an executive agreement, meaning it will not require congressional ratification because it is not a treaty.
There is no definite number on the entry of visiting troops, they added.
Earlier this month, after the eighth round of negotiations for the agreement, Defense Undersecretary and chairman of the Philippine negotiating panel Pio Lorenzo Batino said the two sides found consensus on key points of the agreement.
Batino said the agreement states that US access to and use of Armed Forces of the Philippines’ facilities and areas will be “at the invitation of the Philippines and with full respect for Philippine Constitution and Philippine laws.” [死到臨頭，還死要面子]
The pact will also indicate that the United States will not establish a permanent military presence or base in the Philippines. Besides that, the United States has also agreed that any equipment and material that its military will bring into the country will not include nuclear weapons, Batino said.
For decades, the US maintained large military bases in Clark and Subic Bay until Congress voted to close them down in 1991.
American forces returned to the country eight years later under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which was ratified by the Senate in 1999 to govern the temporary stay of US forces for joint training with the Philippine military.
The framework agreement will top today’s agenda when Obama, on the last leg of a four-nation Asian tour, meets President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang.
Obama, who is scheduled to arrive at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, will be received by Philippine officials at Villamor Air Base and will proceed to Malacanang for the meeting of two heads of states.
Defense officials said ahead of the meeting, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg would sign the EDCA at the Armed Forces Officers Club at 10 a.m.
The officials said the EDCA would be completely different from the VFA, which focuses only on joint military exercises and does not cover the positioning of US fighter jets and ships in selected Philippine military bases.
The signing of the defense accord comes at a time when the Philippines is embroiled in a heated territorial dispute with China in the oil-rich West Philippine Sea.
A Palace official said Sunday that Obama’s visit is aimed at strengthening strategic relations between the United States and the Philippines.
Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said when President Aquino and President Obama meet, they will talk about bilateral relations on three major fronts.
These will focus on strengthening political and security cooperation; expanding trade and investments, tourism and development cooperation; and, on deepening people-to-people ties, Coloma said.
The country already has strong ties with the US as there are an estimated 2.27 million Filipinos living in the United States, while some 670,000 tourists from the US visited the Philippines in 2013.
In economic development, the partnership is focused on meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
He said this is through direct economic assistance and improving public infrastructure, achieving significant poverty reduction, and supporting the administration’s good governance and anti-corruption agenda.
Armed Forces officials said key units would be put on blue alert for Obama’s visit. Under a blue alert, the military can quickly mobilize 50 percent of its strength, should the need arise.
The Armed Forces Joint Task Force-NCR (National Capital Region), on the other hand, will be on red alert as it supports the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Security Group, the lead agency in securing Obama’s visit.
Red alert means all available officers and men of the joint task force must report immediately to their respective places of assignment.
The US Secret Service contingent has been in the Philippines since April 21 to oversee the security arrangements. – With AFP, PNA
四
由於美國在南海與東海島嶼主權的爭端中，都表示中立的立場，美國的堅持只是聲索各造必須以和平方式解決爭端，以及美國要維持這兩個海域的海上與空中航行的自由，但這樣也給實力較強的中國可趁之機。中國可以長期及持續地使用「戰爭邊緣」的手段，來逐一蠶食這兩個海域的島嶼或島礁，總之，美國若沒有更進一步的積極與有效的作為，到最後，東海與南海都會變成中國的內湖，東亞各國，特別是菲律賓與日本，它們都看出了美國的政策最後都會是失敗的政策。
美國想來想去，可能已覺得它的政策必須調整，否則最後會一敗塗地，在今年四月間，美國軍方的人士先後發出較為明確與強硬的訊息，目的是為了對北京與共軍進行嚇阻。
在今年四月間，美國軍方的人士先後發出較為明確與強硬的訊息，他們當然是得到政府高層的許可。
在俄羅斯兼併克里米亞之後，歐洲各國與東亞國家都在質疑美國的承諾與決心，美國政府再不加碼發出較強烈的訊號，再不做出更明確的承諾，「大美和平」(Pax Americana)就會瓦解。
我們先請鄉親們讀”The Diplomat”的一篇文章。
我們把話題拉回現在的菲律賓。
4/28/2014，歐巴馬抵達馬尼拉，進行訪問，在他抵達前數小時，一項名為The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement的行政協議被敲定(這是行政協議，不是條約，無需兩國的立法機關的批准)。
菲律賓人民與台灣人民是兩個近年來犯了不可原諒的錯誤、自作孽不可活的人民，一個可悲的人民就是台灣住民，說清楚些，就是那些支持或投票給馬英九的選民，那些選民除了一些本來就是活得不耐煩的、親中賣台的敗類之外，其餘都是令人難以理解的選民，那些令人難以理解的選民也許根本都知道馬英九是個傾中賣台敗類，但是他們還是要把票投給他，他們都是不見棺材不流淚、自尋死路的人，由於他們犯錯，讓台灣踏入險境，在傾中賣台敗類治理下，台灣隨時都有亡於中國之手的危險。另一個可笑的人民是沒有能預見中國這個「新邪惡帝國」的竄起會給他們帶來禍害的短視菲律賓人民，他們在1992年硬是把鎮守西太平洋的美軍給趕走，他們以為這樣就可以揚眉吐氣，就可以從此擺脫「美帝」的陰影，從此可以站起來，從此可以不再需要Uncle Sam的保護了，從此他們就都成為有尊嚴的菲律賓人了，但不過十來年，就證明當年那些菲律賓人多數只是一群被歷史嘲笑的蠢蛋。
建州運動先請鄉親們讀美國這一方面關於歐巴馬菲律賓之行的報導，我們挑選「華爾街日報」的報導做為代表。
“Manila Welcomes U.S. Defense Pact”
By Trevor Moss
The Wall Street Journal
4/26/2014
MANILA—Opposition to American military involvement in the Philippines forced Washington to abandon what once was its largest overseas Navy base, Subic Bay, in 1992, along with the rest of its military network in the country.
Now, more than two decades later, Manila is urging Washington to come back, and not just to Subic.
That change of heart, driven by worsening fears over China's military rise, forms the backdrop to President Barack Obama's two-day trip to Manila starting Monday, the first by a U.S. president since 2003.
The centerpiece of the trip is expected to be the signing of a new Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation that would pave the way for U.S. forces to return to the Philippines, albeit on a rotational basis. After nine months of negotiations, Manila and Washington announced in early April that they had produced a draft of the agreement, fueling expectations that the pact would be formally signed during Mr. Obama's visit.
While details of the size and locations of any U.S. deployments haven't yet been made public, the Philippine government has stressed that it wouldn't turn back the clock to the days when the U.S. military ran its own installations here. The Philippine Senate tore up its long-standing security treaty with the U.S. in September 1991, effectively ordering the Americans to wind up their extensive military bases in the country.
With foreign bases now banned by the national constitution, U.S. forces would instead be granted access to existing Philippine bases, over which Manila will retain ultimate control. The U.S. would be able to build new facilities on existing bases to store humanitarian and disaster relief equipment.
Although there is a 700-strong U.S. counterterrorism unit active in the southern Philippines as part of a post-9/11 agreement, it is only allowed in an advisory role.
There is still some resistance to bringing the Americans back in bigger numbers. Some of the nationalist politicians who lobbied to oust the U.S. two decades ago haven't changed their views, and some constitutional experts question the legality of any potential new pact. Small-scale antiwar protests are expected during Mr. Obama's visit.
U.S. officials said not to expect any influx of additional American troops after the agreement is signed. Any larger American presence is likely months or even years away. "We are not moving back in," one official said.
Washington also faces a tricky balancing act in returning to the Philippines, since it doesn't want to provoke China, which has overlapping territorial claims with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Public opinion has shifted toward greater support for a U.S. presence in the Philippines as Manila's relationship with Beijing has soured. China has become more assertive in the region, and Beijing and Manila have been locked in a dispute over the Scarborough and Ayungin shoals in the Spratly Islands. China insists that it is merely defending its sovereignty, arguing that it has a centuries-old claim to the South China Sea that Manila can't match. Beijing has refused to participate in a U.N. tribunal initiated by Manila to resolve the impasse.
[以下的內容只出現在4/25/2014「華爾街日報」的網站上，沒有出現在4/26/2014的平面媒體上。]
"Ordinary people in the Philippines have already accepted that China is the threat, and that they took the U.S. for granted," said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform in Manila. "The expectation is that the U.S. will act as a deterrent."
In February, Social Weather Stations, a Philippine polling company, reported that trust in America was up to a record plus-82—a net figure that measures the percentage of people who trust the U.S., minus the percentage of people who don't. That was up from a low of plus-19 in 2004. Views of China have become overwhelmingly negative, falling to minus-17, from a peak of plus-19 in 2009, before the South China Sea issue flared.
The same poll also found that 93% of Filipinos wanted their government to take tougher action against China in defense of national sovereignty.
Many Filipinos are hopeful the U.S. won't confine its activities to Subic Bay, and will also consider deploying personnel or equipment to other sites. They include Oyster Bay, on the ribbonlike island of Palawan just outside the so-called nine-dash line marking Beijing's maritime claims, as well as what once was Clark Air Base in Central Luzon and a possible Marine command post at a place called Brooke's Point in southern Palawan.
Last year, the Philippine military announced plans to spend 313 million pesos ($7 million) upgrading Naval Station Carlito Cunanan, a small Philippine Navy outpost at Oyster Bay, so that it could accommodate up to four naval frigates and, potentially, U.S. military personnel.
People familiar with the workings of the base said the upgrade program had yet to begin, though they expressed hope the U.S. defense agreement would expedite matters. As part of a recent exercise, a team of Seabees—U.S. Navy engineers—joined Philippine Navy personnel to build a two-classroom annex for the local elementary school, handing it over in February.
The Philippine Department of National Defense and the U.S. Embassy in Manila declined to comment.
"Anything that brings American troops to Puerto Princesa or Palawan is a welcome thing," said Edward S. Hagedorn, the former mayor of Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital of Palawan. Residents feel vulnerable as China presses its claims to nearby islands, he said.
At Subic Bay, meanwhile, anticipation is rising that American military personnel could once again be present in significant numbers, rather than simply passing through on occasional port calls, as they have in recent years.
The abrupt U.S. departure in 1992 left a void that Subic—then wholly dependent on base income—has struggled to fill. The residents of Olongapo City, where Subic is situated, are still bitter that the Americans, who provided some 25,000 local jobs, were forced to leave.
"The anti-U.S. base people complained, but where were they afterwards when we were going hungry?" asked Olongapo Mayor Rolen C. Paulino.
Subic has been repurposed as a free-trade zone, comprising shipbuilding and maintenance operations, a container port, and other businesses.
Yet dilapidated warehouses with peeling paintwork and long-broken windows still characterize areas of the once-sprawling facility. Cubi Point, formerly a naval air station servicing hundreds of fighter jets and which the U.S. Navy demolished a mountain to build, sits forlorn and unused, except for an occasional light aircraft whirring through.
Nevertheless, Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Municipal Authority, said that an American presence was now mainly desirable from a security, rather than a financial, standpoint.
"This is a crisis situation right now," he said of the pressure being applied by the Chinese, noting that Scarborough Shoal is only 120 miles from Subic Bay.
接下來，我們來讀菲律賓方面的報導，我們以The Manila Standard Today這份報紙的報導為代表。
“PH, US okay new deal”
By Francisco Tuyay
The Manila Standard Today
Apr. 28, 2014 at 12:01am
Defense pact to be signed hours before Obama visit
THE Philippines said Sunday it would sign a 10-year agreement with the United States today to allow a greater US military presence on its territory amid its bitter territorial dispute with China.
A statement from the Defense Department on Sunday said the signing would take place in Manila on Monday morning, a few hours before US President Barack Obama was due to arrive for a two-day visit.
Quoting Philippine government sources, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua added that the 10-year defense pact, finalized after eight rounds of talks that began in August 2013, grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and pre-position equipment, aircraft and vessels, but rules out permanent basing.
Sources said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will be signed as an executive agreement, meaning it will not require congressional ratification because it is not a treaty.
There is no definite number on the entry of visiting troops, they added.
Earlier this month, after the eighth round of negotiations for the agreement, Defense Undersecretary and chairman of the Philippine negotiating panel Pio Lorenzo Batino said the two sides found consensus on key points of the agreement.
Batino said the agreement states that US access to and use of Armed Forces of the Philippines’ facilities and areas will be “at the invitation of the Philippines and with full respect for Philippine Constitution and Philippine laws.” [死到臨頭，還死要面子]
The pact will also indicate that the United States will not establish a permanent military presence or base in the Philippines. Besides that, the United States has also agreed that any equipment and material that its military will bring into the country will not include nuclear weapons, Batino said.
For decades, the US maintained large military bases in Clark and Subic Bay until Congress voted to close them down in 1991.
American forces returned to the country eight years later under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which was ratified by the Senate in 1999 to govern the temporary stay of US forces for joint training with the Philippine military.
The framework agreement will top today’s agenda when Obama, on the last leg of a four-nation Asian tour, meets President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang.
Obama, who is scheduled to arrive at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, will be received by Philippine officials at Villamor Air Base and will proceed to Malacanang for the meeting of two heads of states.
Defense officials said ahead of the meeting, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg would sign the EDCA at the Armed Forces Officers Club at 10 a.m.
The officials said the EDCA would be completely different from the VFA, which focuses only on joint military exercises and does not cover the positioning of US fighter jets and ships in selected Philippine military bases.
The signing of the defense accord comes at a time when the Philippines is embroiled in a heated territorial dispute with China in the oil-rich West Philippine Sea.
A Palace official said Sunday that Obama’s visit is aimed at strengthening strategic relations between the United States and the Philippines.
Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said when President Aquino and President Obama meet, they will talk about bilateral relations on three major fronts.
These will focus on strengthening political and security cooperation; expanding trade and investments, tourism and development cooperation; and, on deepening people-to-people ties, Coloma said.
The country already has strong ties with the US as there are an estimated 2.27 million Filipinos living in the United States, while some 670,000 tourists from the US visited the Philippines in 2013.
In economic development, the partnership is focused on meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
He said this is through direct economic assistance and improving public infrastructure, achieving significant poverty reduction, and supporting the administration’s good governance and anti-corruption agenda.
Armed Forces officials said key units would be put on blue alert for Obama’s visit. Under a blue alert, the military can quickly mobilize 50 percent of its strength, should the need arise.
The Armed Forces Joint Task Force-NCR (National Capital Region), on the other hand, will be on red alert as it supports the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Security Group, the lead agency in securing Obama’s visit.
Red alert means all available officers and men of the joint task force must report immediately to their respective places of assignment.
The US Secret Service contingent has been in the Philippines since April 21 to oversee the security arrangements. – With AFP, PNA
四
由於美國在南海與東海島嶼主權的爭端中，都表示中立的立場，美國的堅持只是聲索各造必須以和平方式解決爭端，以及美國要維持這兩個海域的海上與空中航行的自由，但這樣也給實力較強的中國可趁之機。中國可以長期及持續地使用「戰爭邊緣」的手段，來逐一蠶食這兩個海域的島嶼或島礁，總之，美國若沒有更進一步的積極與有效的作為，到最後，東海與南海都會變成中國的內湖，東亞各國，特別是菲律賓與日本，它們都看出了美國的政策最後都會是失敗的政策。
美國想來想去，可能已覺得它的政策必須調整，否則最後會一敗塗地，在今年四月間，美國軍方的人士先後發出較為明確與強硬的訊息，目的是為了對北京與共軍進行嚇阻。
在今年四月間，美國軍方的人士先後發出較為明確與強硬的訊息，他們當然是得到政府高層的許可。
在俄羅斯兼併克里米亞之後，歐洲各國與東亞國家都在質疑美國的承諾與決心，美國政府再不加碼發出較強烈的訊號，再不做出更明確的承諾，「大美和平」(Pax Americana)就會瓦解。
我們先請鄉親們讀”The Diplomat”的一篇文章。
“US Admiral: ‘We Would Help’ Philippines Against China”
A U.S. admiral’s security assurance to the Philippines was not as firm as recent commitments to Japan and South Korea.
By Shannon Tiezzi
The Diplomat
February 14, 2014
Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, is in the Philippines this week in a visit designed to bolster defense ties between the two allies. While there, Greenert told students of the National Defense College of the Philippines that the U.S. would fulfill its treaty obligations by coming to the Philippines’ aid in the event of a Chinese occupation of disputed territories. “Of course, we would help you,” Greenert said.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry similarly reiterated America’s defense commitment to Japan after a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. Kerry said that “the United States remains as committed as ever to upholding our treaty obligations with our Japanese allies. That includes with respect to the East China Sea.” According to a senior State Department official, Kerry also plans to reaffirm the United States’ alliance commitments to South Korea during his time in Seoul today.
Kerry’s promises to Japan and South Korea did not go unnoticed in the Philippines. A statement from the Presidential Communications Operations Office said that the Philippines hoped to receive the same assurances from the United States. “We continue to believe that when the need comes, the U.S. will stand by its commitments to our country based on existing agreements between the U.S. and the Philippines,” the statement said.
From this perspective, the Philippines may actually have been disappointed with the assurances they were given. Greenert only addressed the issue in response to a direct question, according to Reuters, whereas John Kerry assured Japan of America’s commitment as part of his formal remarks. Greenert also carefully hedged his response by remaining vague as to the type of assistance the U.S. would provide. “We have an obligation [to help the Philippines] because we have a treaty. But, I don’t know in what capacity that help is,” Greenert said.
In the event of a military conflict with China, the Philippines would need the U.S. military to intervene to have any chance of victory. Should the U.S. instead restrict itself to providing arms or advice (which would fulfill the vague assurance of “help” that Greenert gave), China would still prevail in a hypothetical clash over the disputed territories. From Greenert’s comments (and the fact that they came only in response to a question), it sounds like the U.S. is not prepared to give a full assurance of military support to the Philippines.
The U.S. military had to know that Greenert, as the Chief of Naval Operations, would receive questions about the nature of U.S. security commitments to the Philippines. After all, he was visiting the Philippines on a mission“to strengthen the ties and interoperability between the two navies and further realize peace and stability in the region,” according to a Navy spokesman. A statement about the strength of the U.S. commitment to the Philippines would be a natural part of that mission, especially considering recent tensions between Manila and Beijing. If Greenert did not make a stronger commitment about the nature of U.S. assistance, then the Pentagon is not willing to make such a commitment.
When U.S. President Barack Obama visits the Philippines (as well as Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia) in April, Manila will likely look for a stronger confirmation of the United States’ security obligations. Whether or not such assurances are forthcoming will be an interesting strategic choice for the Obama administration. On one hand, U.S. strategists feel that only a strong U.S. commitment to its regional allies can deter what is seen as Chinese aggression in the region. On the other hand, Chinese officials (and some U.S. thinkers as well) believe that promises of unconditional support from the United States only encourages provocative moves on the part of U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines — and the U.S. does not want to find itself dragged into a conflict with China because an ally escalated tensions. The Philippines, as one of the militarily weakest U.S. allies in the region (and thus the most dependent on U.S. security assurances), will be an interesting test case for the Obama administration.
不習慣閱讀英文的鄉親們，可以讀一篇漢文報導。
美國軍方已發出比較明確的承諾，但基於各種考量，當然無法提出或說明具體的做法。
美國事實上不能給盟國太強硬、太明確與太具體的承諾與訊號，因為這會鼓勵盟國靠勢挑釁，給美國製造麻煩，但若像以前那樣，發出不痛不癢的訊號，又會被中國看扁，等於鼓舞中國侵略，此時美國又不願為此出兵，美國最後還是喪失威信，美國也因此很難在亞太地區混下去。
「美上將：中菲若衝突 ，美將助菲」
大紀元時報
2/14/2014
[大紀元2014年02月14日訊] （BBC）法新社報導，美國海軍作戰部部長格林納特週四（13日）說，如果中國佔領與菲律賓有主權爭執的南中國海島嶼的話，美國將「幫助」菲律賓。
格林納特上將還強調，在菲律賓與中國就資源豐富的南沙群島發生的激烈領土衝突中，美國有責任履行與菲律賓的共同防禦條約。
正在馬尼拉訪問的格林納特上將在菲律賓國防學院作演講，聽眾中有人問，如果中國佔領有爭議的南沙群島的話，美國會怎麼辦。
格林納特回答說：「我們當然會幫你們，我不知道具體怎麼幫，但因為我們之間有條約，所以我們有責任幫你們。」
最強硬支持
這是迄今為止在菲律賓與中國的領土爭端問題上，美國所發表的對菲律賓的口頭支持中態度最強硬的之一。
中國近來在東海和南中國海的領土主張和控制行為，尤其是對幾乎整個南中國海都聲稱擁有主權，越來越引起關注。
美國與菲律賓在1951年締結的《美菲共同防禦條約》，是菲律賓和美國之間的軍事同盟條約，雙方有責任在一方受到外來攻擊時保衛對方。
到目前為止，美國在中國與其它國家發生的南中國海主權爭端中沒有站在任何一方，捲入爭端的國家還有文萊、馬來西亞、台灣和越南。
明確信號
但是格林納特上將週四在演講中說，他希望發出一個明確的信號，那就是違反國際規範的攻擊性行為會破壞良好的秩序。
他還補充說：「你們可能已經看到美國議員們的一些與此相同的聲明，你們還會看到更多來自美國的支持。」
格林納特上將透露，美國海軍將增加在西太平洋地區的存在，目前美國在該地區有50來艘艦船，到2020年將會增至60艘。
格林納特上將還表揚菲律賓就南中國海領土主權爭端把中國告上聯合國法庭，認為這是個了不起的舉動，並鼓勵菲律賓「堅持到底」。
關於美國準備在東亞強化它的前進部署一事，今天的「華爾街日報」有一篇很值得一讀的報導。
“U.S. to Flex Military Muscle to Reassure Allies over China”
By Adam Entous & Julian E. Barnes
The Wall Street Journal
4/28/2014
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military has prepared options for a muscular response to any future Chinese provocations in the South and East China seas, ranging from displays of B-2 bomber flights near China to aircraft-carrier exercises near its coastal waters, officials said. [美國官員表示，為了對未來中國在南海與東海的挑釁進行展示軍事肌肉的回應，美軍已準備了若干選項，包括從在靠近中國的地方展示B-2轟炸機到在靠近中國的海岸處舉行軍演。]
The menu of options, described by officials briefed on the action plan, reflects concerns that U.S. allies in Asia have about the Obama administration's commitments to its security obligations, particularly after Russia's seizure of the Crimean peninsula.
The security question has closely followed President Barack Obama in recent days during his four-country Asian trip.
Washington's closest allies in Asia have told American counterparts that Crimea is seen as a possible litmus test of what Washington will do if China attempted a similar power grab in the South China and East China seas, according to current and former U.S. officials.
"They're concerned. But it's not only about Crimea. It's a crescendo that's been building," a senior U.S. defense official said, citing skepticism in Asia that Washington is prepared to back up its word and carry through on its renewed strategic focus on Asia.
Just before Mr. Obama landed in the Philippines on Monday, U.S. and Philippine officials finalized an agreement allowing for the return of U.S. forces, more than two decades after Philippine opposition forced Washington to abandon its military network there.
Similarly, Mr. Obama in a visit to Japan stood side-by-side Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and called the U.S. treaty commitments to Japan's security "absolute."
On each stop in Asia, including South Korea and Malaysia, Mr. Obama's trip was accompanied by concerns over aggression by Moscow and its militant allies in defiance of warnings by the U.S. and other Western powers.
Similar concerns were raised in September by South Korean officials after Mr. Obama abruptly called off plans to bomb Syria in response to the regime's use of chemical weapons against the opposition.
The new U.S. options were developed by the Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Command in recent months, and come after the international crisis last year in which China unilaterally declared an air-defense zone around islands that are the subject of a territorial dispute with Japan.
Defense officials said the options have been drafted to apply to any provocative act in the region, whether carried out by China or North Korea. Defense officials are currently revising the options in the context of a possible act of aggression by North Korea, with some officials arguing Pyongyang is poised to begin a "cycle of provocation."
The Pacific Command, like other U.S. regional military commands world-wide, regularly drafts military options and contingency plans. The options were recently updated to make them brawnier, defense officials said.
"Combatant Commands plan…for everything from exercises and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operations all the way up to full-scale combat operations," said Capt. Chris Sims, the spokesman for Pacific Command. "In the plans that they create, options are provided to senior military and civilian leadership."
In addition to bomber flights and aircraft carrier maneuvers, the options include demonstrations of U.S. power such as increasing surveillance operations near China, and stepping up U.S. naval port visits to allies.
A senior Obama administration official declined to comment on details of any military options, but said unilateral moves by Beijing—such as the declaration of another air-defense zone in the region—" could result in changes in our military posture and presence" in the region.
The military options don't specify particular responses to individual actions. Rather, officials briefed on the options said, the actions would need to be tailored to the specific incident, such as maritime confrontation.
Under the U.S. options, any new moves in the region by China to assert its claims unilaterally would be met by an American military challenge intended to get Beijing to back down. U.S. officials said the White House would be prepared to step up military deployments in disputed waters in the South and East China Seas, in a more direct challenge to Chinese claims there than the U.S. has taken in the past.
The steps can be taken without risking a shooting war, officials say, citing intelligence that suggests there are divisions within the Chinese military establishment about how to respond. U.S. defense officials said some of the options are designed to send a subtle message, like stepped-up port calls by Navy ships or increasing the size and scope of already-planned exercises. All of the contingency plans, said a defense official, are designed to allow a potential adversary a chance to de-escalate.
"Never push your enemy into a corner because you might get a reaction you don't want," said a U.S. official, specifying the need for an "off ramp."
China has repeatedly said it would respond to American shows of military might in kind. China has been investing heavily in its military, modernizing its forces and becoming a stronger regional power.
The White House authorized U.S. military aircraft flights in a show of force last year during a spike in tensions with North Korea. The U.S. also flew B-52s over disputed islands in the East China Sea when China in November established its Air Defense Identification Zone.
Current and former officials said among the more provocative options on the table to counter China would include expanded U.S. surveillance flights and sending U.S. aircraft carriers through disputed waters close to the Chinese coast, including the strait of Taiwan. [可被美國拿來做為對中國進行反制的選項包括航空母艦戰鬥群在台灣海峽進行巡邏]
The U.S. Navy regularly sends destroyers and cruisers through the strait of Taiwan in lower-profile freedom-of-navigation operations, but sending a carrier through would mark a significant escalation, officials said. [美國海軍有規律地派遣驅逐艦與巡洋艦在台灣海峽進行例行的巡航，以低調的公海自由航行作業的方式或名義進行。]
Doubts about U.S. resolve haven't been expressed publicly by Asian leaders during the president's trip.
Under threat from Russia, Kiev earlier this year appealed to Washington for small arms and ammunition, as well as for nonlethal items like flak jackets and night-vision goggles. Wary of antagonizing Moscow, the White House dragged out internal deliberations for weeks before deciding earlier this month to send helmets, sleeping mats and other nonlethal gear deemed by U.S. officials to be less provocative—but no arms.
U.S. officials say Asian allies who want to know how Washington would respond to future acts of Chinese aggression shouldn't look at what the U.S. is doing to aid Ukraine but instead at Pentagon moves to reassure Eastern European allies and Baltic states since the U.S. is bound by treaty agreements to help defend them.
The Pentagon last week said it is sending several hundred troops for exercises in Eastern Europe, and that it would keep a rotational naval presence in the Black Sea. A senior military official said the changes were small but "proportional to the threat."
As with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners in Europe, the U.S. has defense treaties with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. The U.S., in contrast, has no such agreement to defend Ukraine, U.S. officials have told their Asian counterparts. "It's comparing apples and oranges," said a senior military official.
Like Ukraine, nontreaty allies in Asia would get more-limited support from the U.S., officials said.
U.S. officials have privately warned their Chinese counterparts in recent exchanges, including a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State John Kerry in February, that the U.S. won't accept moves by China to unilaterally declare another air-defense identification zone or to assert Chinese territorial claims in the South and East China Seas, according to U.S. officials.
It was unclear how seriously Beijing takes the warning. In February, following Mr. Kerry's visit to Beijing, Chinese leaders told a visiting American delegation that they didn't take U.S. warnings seriously.
"Unfortunately, I don't think they're convinced by our muscularity," said a former administration official who took part in the delegation. "If we think we're ready to pull the trigger but they don't think that we're ready to pull the trigger, that's when bad things happen."
—Colleen McCain Nelson contributed to this article.
(待續)
台灣建州運動發起人周威霖
David C. Chou
Founder, Formosa Statehood Movement
(an organization devoted in current stage to making Taiwan a territorial commonwealth of the United States)
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