Daily Times

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 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.” But China warned Manila against the purchase, saying the Philippines was “threatening” regional peace. “The Philippines’ defense 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.