MANILA, Philippines (AP) The Philippines military chief vowed Thursday to defend the country s fishermen a!

!ainst any "hinese #terror or intimidation# in the $outh "hina $ea, the latest si!n of sharpenin! tensions in what is a potential !lo%al flash point& In an interview with The Associated Press, 'en& (mmanuel )autista said "hinese claims to islands *ust off the Philippine coast are #of course a%solute nonsense& +ust ta,e a loo, at the map&# "hina claims almost the whole of the vast $outh "hina $ea, which is %elieved to have si!nificant oil and !as deposits& )ei*in! has %een increasin!ly assertive in pressin! its claims in the ocean a!ainst its smaller nei!h%ors, sendin! navy ships into contested waters and harassin! fishin! fleets of nations with rival claims& #-ur fishermen will continue on fishin!, assert their ri!hts on those areas& They should !o on with their lives and live their life as fishermen, not to %ow down to terror or intimidation,# )autista said, referrin! to an incident in which he said a fishin! vessel was sprayed %y a water cannon on a "hinese %oat& As,ed if the Philippine military would defend the fisherman in the event of another incident, he said, #To the %est we can, we will support them, especially if there is more a!!ression and unnecessary use of force&# "hina and the Philippines, alon! with )runei, Malaysia, .ietnam and Taiwan, have overlappin! claims in the $outh "hina $ea, with "hina and Taiwan claimin! the lar!est swathe of the strate!ic waters& The /nited $tates is a military ally of the Philippines and shares many of the concerns of the small countries re!ardin! "hina, %ut says it wants a diplomatic solution& The /nited $tates !ave the Philippines two coast!uard cutters which have %een turned into the country s %i!!est naval vessels& )autista said the navy is procurin! two new fri!ates and other vessels to %oost its maritime force& Manila announced last year it has ta,en its claims to a /nited Nations0%ac,ed tri%unal, which will ta,e several years to reach a verdict& "hina has insisted instead on one0on0one ne!otiations to resolve the territorial conflicts& $uch ne!otiations, which would !ive "hina an advanta!e %ecause of its sheer si1e, have %een re*ected %y the Philippines& )autista said that decision ris,ed an!erin! "hina in the short term, %ut that it was the ri!ht course of action& #They are a %i! country, we are a small country& 2hat can we do3 )rin! it to court, solve it throu!h peaceful means,# he said& The Philippine military is one of the wea,est in Asia, and for much of the last 45 years has %een fi!htin! internal security threats from Muslim separatists and "ommunist

insur!ents& Last month, !overnment ne!otiators announced they had a reached a peace deal with the lar!est separatist !roup, the Moro Islamic Li%eration 6ront& )autista e7pressed hope that the deal could provide a model for other conflicts in the country, allowin! it to focus on e7ternal defense and disaster relief in a country prone to earth8ua,es and typhoons&