Beijing: China on Thursday warned the Philippines against threatening “regional peace” after the United States said it had approved the possible sale of $5.58 billion in F-16 fighter jets to Manila.
The Philippines’ defence and security cooperation with other countries should not target any third party or harm the interests of a third party. Nor should it threaten regional peace and security or exacerbate regional tensions,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
The United States said on Tuesday it has approved the possible sale of $5.58 billion in F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, as Washington backs its ally in rising tensions over China.
The State Department said it was green-lighting a sale that includes 20 F-16 jets and related equipment to the Philippines, a treaty-bound ally of the United States.
The sale would “improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in Southeast Asia,” a State Department statement said.
It would also boost “the Philippine Air Force’s ability to conduct maritime domain awareness” and “enhance its suppression of enemy air defenses,” the statement said.
The news follows months of increasing confrontations between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.
A State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday that the deal would be final only after “a signed Letter of Offer and Acceptance” was received from the “purchasing partner”.
Philippine defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP he had “not received any official notice of such a decision.”
In December, the Philippines angered China when it said it planned to acquire the US mid-range Typhon missile system in a push to secure its maritime interests. Beijing warned such a purchase could spark a regional “arms race”.
