Philippines building sea-based military force to counter Chinese claims in South China Sea

The Philippines has started building a greater sea-based military force, to be known as the 'Cafgu Active Auxiliary Service' (CAAS), to protect its waters and counter Chinese claims in the South China Sea. According to reports, CAAS will protect the Philippines' interests in the disputed sea including the vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Vice-Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, the Philippines' naval chief, informed that the new force will be recruited from among the Philippine Army and they will be trained by the Philippine Navy -- specifically the navy's Northern Luzon and Naval Forces West units.

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'Gray zone' arms race

The 'gray zone' arms race in the South China Sea region started with China's use of its paramilitary forces to bar supplies and construction material shipments from arriving at Thitu Island, where the Philippines maintains a token military occupancy and rudimentary airstrip it is seeking to upgrade.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana maintained that China is using what they call "civilian militias" who are in fact a part of the Chinese navy. They're also acting as fishermen and fishing with big boats, Lorenzana said in a recent address to the Philippine Senate.

The Philippines is bidding to firm up its defences after years of Chinese intimidation tactics in the disputed sea, including China's occupation of the Scarborough Shoal in Manila's EEZ in 2012. The shoal is important for China to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the sea.

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stressed the strategic need for more China-countering forces at a speech last month at the United Nations' General Assembly. Duterte firmly rejected attempts to undermine the Philippines' maritime claims - a thinly veiled complaint against China's rising use of sea militias in the South China Sea. 

Moreover, the Philippines would not be the first to oppose China's use of maritime paramilitary forces in the sea. Earlier, Vietnam which is hotly defending its territorial claims on Paracel and Spratly island chains, created its own maritime force in 2009 to push out the Chinese sea militias in the region. Further, a suspected Chinese militia vessel had sunk last year and almost killed 22 Filipino fishermen roaming the fisheries and energy-rich contested Reed Bank area.

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(With ANI inputs)