TIME Exclusive: President Benigno Aquino on U.S.-Philippine Military Ties
By EMILY RAUHALA, globalspin.blogs.time.com
January 27, 2012

Philippine officials are in Washington this week to negotiate an expanded U.S. military presence in the country. The talks, first reported by the Washington Post, are part of what the Obama administration calls a strategic “pivot” to Asia. In November, the U.S. announced plans for a base in northern Australia. Soon after, it broached the idea of stationing ships off Singapore. The U.S. State Department insists that this week’s meetings will focus on issues like training, search and rescue, counter terror and freedom of navigation, not the re-establishment of U.S. military bases in the Philippines. Either way, the move is sure to rile China and complicate the triangular relationship between Washington, Manila and Beijing.

In December, I sat down with Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino for a wide-ranging interview on the Philippines’ politics, economy and foreign policy. We spoke at length about the nation’s strategic posture, including its relationship with China and the United States. As the country heads into negotiations with the U.S., his comments are worth a look. Here are some highlights:

TIME: What’s your strategy to manage your relationship with China, specifically territorial disputes in the South China Sea?

Aquin0: What we are saying, basically, is that there is an agreement called UNCLOS — the United Nations Convention on the Law of the SEA — and all of us are signatories to it. I think it is very clear. Nobody is really interested in going to a violent conflict to try to resolve this. I hope they understand that I am duty bound to protect the interests of my country, just as they are protecting theirs.

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