THE Philippine government is mulling to purchase military equipment from China’s state-owned defense manufacturing firm Poly Technologies Incorporated, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
In a press conference in China on Sunday night, Lorenzana said the government is expected to sign a letter of intent to procure arms to Poly Technologies on Monday.
This developed after China’s arms manufacturer paid a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte in Beijing on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s a letter of intent to deal with them because they’re offering us a lot, a wide array of defense equipment,” Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana said the Philippines will be sending a technical working group to Beijing to inspect the defense equipment being offered by the Poly Techonologies.
He also guaranteed that the military weapons from Poly Technologies met the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s standards specification.
The Defense chief said the $500-million long-term soft loan from China will be used if the arms deal with Poly Technologies pushes through.
“We are not saying that we will buy from them or we will not buy from them but if we need anything from the Chinese defense industry, then we’re going to procure using the loan that they are going to offer to us,” Lorenzana said.
In December last year, Lorenzana revealed that the Chinese government had offered $500-million soft loan to the Philippines and another $14 million for military equipment.
Lorenzana said the Philippine government would also use the $14-million grant to procure four fast boats, 200 sniper rifles, and hundreds of rocker-propellege grenade launchers with ammunition, which would be delivered by year-end.
Lorenzana also allayed concerns over the planned purchase of defense hardware from Chinese arms manufacturer, amid disputes between China and the Philippines on resource-rich South China Sea.
“I think, we should separate our dispute from the South China Sea from our relationship with the Chinese,” he said.
The Philippine government in 2013 filed a petition against China for claiming most parts of the disputed waters. In July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, Netherlands ruled in favor of the Philippines and invalidated China’s claim.
Duterte, however, turned down the arbitral court’s ruling and sought a “soft-leaning” approach to resolve the dispute with China. (SunStar Philippines)