The Philippines is considering an option acquire a submarine from France as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s (AFP) multibillion-peso modernization program.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana revealed he will schedule a visit to Paris this coming September to possibly shop for the military hardware.

“The Navy is considering France as source of our submarine [since] they [the French] are good at making them,” Lorenzana said during an ambush interview at the French ambassador’s residence while celebrating Bastille Day Sunday night.

“France has been making these equipment for the longest time and they have good qualities,” the defense chief added.

If the submarine deal with France, any other countries will push through, it will be the first time for the AFP to have such a vessel at its service and under its disposal.

100% available

AT the same event, French Ambassador Nicolas Galey said France is “hundred percent available” in establishing defense cooperation with the Philippines similar to its partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We are happy that the Philippines clearly wants to play a bigger role in the region, [and] wants to share this with us. We are obviously 100 percent available to have the same kind of cooperation with the Philippines like the one we have with other countries in the world and in this region like Malaysia and Australia,” the envoy said.

“We are also an Indo-Pacific power, we have the second-largest economic zone in the world thanks to the French territories in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the Island of Réunion…. This gives us a particular reason and motivation to have good cooperation with the Philippines,” he said.

Aside from 8,000 French militaries, Galey mentioned that France also has naval bases posted in the Indo-Pacific region.

Other needed assets

Last year, during President Duterte’s visit to Russia, Lorenzana broached that the Philippine government is studying the procurement from Russia of a helicopter, trainer planes and submarine for the military.

He went as far as saying that a technical working group from the Philippine Air Force will go to Moscow to study the plan and make a recommendation.

The Philippines is also considering South Korea and the US to supply the submarine and helicopters, respectively, Lorenzana added.

However, in subsequent interviews, Lorenzana backtracked on the Russian sub issue before a Senate hearing, saying they could be expensive to maintain.

At this stage, however, it seems that all submarine suppliers are in consideration, including Japan, because “we have not chosen proponents yet…so everybody’s still have a chance to being chosen.”

Lorenzana also admitted that there has not been any memorandum of understanding or memorandum of agreement being signed with any country.

Asked whether France or Russia has the better underwater fighting machine, Lorenzana said he is not an expert on submarines to be able to make such an assessment.

He said “yes” when asked if the military is still on a mission to canvass the military hardware abroad.

“Our meeting in France would be a bilateral between two defense ministers. We will discuss what is the best way forward for everybody,” Lorenzana said.

The need for the AFP for more up-to-date equipment is being fast-tracked in the face of China’s continued military upgrading of the facilities in the seven reclaimed features in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.

The latest conflict to erupt was the June 9 allision between a suspected Chinese militia vessel and a Filipino fishing trawler in the Recto Bank/Reed Bank. The Chinese boat fled the scene and failed to render assistance to the 22 Filipino fishermen left swimming in the sea until a Vietnamese fishing boat saved all of them.

A joint investigation has yet to release its findings.

Lorenzana said, however, that the contested area in the WPS has been, “for the longest time…the fishing ground for Koreans, Chinese and Vietnamese.”

“Maybe it’s just a word by the press that we will allow it, but even if we will not allow it, they will be there, we cannot remove them,” he said.

“In fact they have already made some islands there within our EEZ [exclusive economic zone]. How can we remove them there? To our detractors, tell us how we can remove them there?” the defense chief said.

Lorenzana shared that during fishing seasons, “they have lots of fishing vessels [in the area].”

The defense chief said he does not know of the implications of allowing the claimant countries to fish in the contested area.

“I don’t know what are the implications, are there any implications when they [President Duterte and President Xi Jinping] agree that the Chinese could fish there?” Lorenzana said.

Second guessing what President Duterte may have discussed with Xi, Lorenza said: “Maybe what the President [Duterte] said is, “we will allow you to go there, anyway the EEZ belongs to us.”

Queried whether the government’s stance seems like adopting a policy of appeasement, Lorenzana replied, “We are not afraid of anyone. It’s only because they are already [fishing] there at the WPS, and they’re listening to us. But they already said that they do not honor the arbitral ruling. So what can we do?”

He said that from the start, the country should have convinced China to participate in the trial “so that there will be two of us arbiters, but they did not, it is only us who went there.”

“So from the beginning, the Chinese said, “whatever ruling the Permanent Court of Arbitration would be, we will not honor it.”

With PNA