Philippines assures China potential F-16 purchase not intended to harm any nation

MANILA – The potential purchase of F-16 jets by the Philippines from the US does not harm the interests of any third party, including China, a Philippine security official said on April 3.

National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya assured China that 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,” he told a briefing.

The US Defence Department’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency said on April 1 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 (S$7.5 billion).

The aircraft would boost the Philippine military’s ability to patrol its territory and improve interoperability between their militaries, the Pentagon said.

Mr Malaya said the US government has not officially communicated the approval to the Philippines.

The announcement came after

US Defence 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 advance capabilities to strengthen deterrence against threats, including Chinese “aggression”.

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 China’s claims have no basis under international law, a ruling Beijing does not recognise. REUTERS