International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC)

“Manila should augment its own contingent plan and readiness for self-reliance even if the US still commits to their ironclad promise to the Philippines,” Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) said. “Multiple defense partnerships with like-minded countries and continuous military modernization efforts are the best steps that Manila could take now,” he added. “We do not like to hear from the US that one day, just like what Mr. Trump has said to Mr. Zelensky, that without their support, Ukraine can be easily defeated,” Mr. Cabalza said. The Philippines should boost its military modernization push and pursue defense ties with other allies to hedge against US President Donald J. Trump’s so-called transactional diplomacy amid increasing tensions with China, political analysts said. It should cut its dependence on the US to insulate itself from foreign policy shifts of Mr. Trump, whose meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington imploded on Friday after a heated argument, despite US commitment to their “ironclad” ties, they added. https://lnkd.in/gryAsXqG

Japan’s strategy is to signal its emergence as a “major power broker” in the region, security analyst Chester Cabalza told BenarNews. “Tokyo has felt the intensity of Beijing’s impounding presence in its own coastlines, and one way of reducing the tension is to ally with nations experiencing similar strategic territorial dilemmas with China,” said Cabalza, who heads International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), a think-tank in Manila. Japan, unlike the Philippines, does not have territorial claims that overlap with China’s expansive ones in the South China Sea. But Tokyo has a separate dispute with Beijing over a group of uninhabited Senkaku Islands (also known as the Diaoyu Islands) in the East China Sea. “Japan has to ink pacts with other middle powers in the region,” Cabalza said. “By this way, China will be reprimanded to follow maritime rules-based order in the South China Sea.” https://lnkd.in/gTJzvqwK

Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) think tank, said the arrival of French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is a big leap for France to cement its strong presence in the Indo-Pacific. While many nations in the region are finalizing their own military modernization, Paris, according to Cabalza, shows off its capability as a reliable defence partner and supplier shown in this important stopover. Cabalza said that while Beijing may see this as a show of force, France is asserting its commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight. “As Paris heeds to Manila’s prime advocacy for maritime rules-based order, France is helping the Southeast Asian archipelagic nation achieve that norm in the region,” Cabalza told Naval News. “The European power is one of the first major powers also active in helping the Philippines in achieving its revitalized defense modernization, particularly in Manila’s elusive dream of possessing submarines and surface naval vessels,” he added. https://lnkd.in/gVPjdCQE

However, security expert Chester Cabalza, professor of International Security at the Development Academy of The Philippines, countered that the West Philippine Sea is “real and existing.” “It is not just a figment of imagination,” Cabalza, founding president of the International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) think tank said in a message to INQUIRER.net. “It is part of our imagined community and experienced culture. The West Philippine Sea forms part of our national sovereignty in the exercise of our sovereign rights.” “It was legally constructed in 2012 to tell the world of the metes and bounds of our maritime domains and territories and the world has warmly embraced it,” Cabalza said, noting that there is a “humongous body of scholarly literature” about the West Philippine Sea which are now being taught and discussed in top universities worldwide.

‘As China continues to challenge different countries’ territorial claims across the Pacific region, “the Philippines’ efforts to consolidate more agreements with allies fits Manila’s need to defend its maritime territories and safeguard the freedom of navigation in the region,” Joshua Espena, [Vice President] at the Philippine-based International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) told VOA by phone.’ https://t.co/MRm9jSTdjM

Analysts said that the auditory weapon was the latest in China’s “gray-zone” tactics – activities that fall between ordinary statecraft and open warfare – to advance its interests without necessarily provoking war. It follows the same tactic Beijing used in 2023, when the China Coast Guard (CCG) pointed a laser at a PCG vessel, temporarily blinding some crewmembers. “The LRAD is a sound weapon that is harmful and can lead to deafness if overexposed. China has used this gray-zone tactic before against the PCG and it’s not something new as a military operation,” said security analyst Chester Cabalza, head of the International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), a Philippine think-tank. “But due to its detrimental effects to health and human body, this is no different to the lights war or laser light that Beijing keeps on poking against Manila in the [West Philippine Sea],” he told BenarNews. He said China had been abusing the gray-zone tactic, which he described as “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive in nature.” https://lnkd.in/gx29UBWF

THE US military has moved its Typhon launchers, which can fire multipurpose missiles up to thousands of kilometers, from Laoag airfield in the Philippines to another location on the island of Luzon. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” with his Philippine counterpart and underscored the “ironclad” US defense commitment to Manila. “This is music to Manila’s ears as Washington supports us and rebukes Beijing’s inconsistent appreciation of international law,” Chester B. Cabalza, founding president at Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “But the US and Philippines must work harder to maintain peace and order in the West Philippine Sea and ensure that China will not abuse its show of force and noncompliance with the 2016 arbitral award,” Cabalza, a professor of international security at the Development Academy of the Philippines added.

Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), said the investigations showed sleeper agents “have faces, which tell us to even be more wary of hybrid warfare in a hyperconnected world”. “Cyber warriors look like any ordinary people with an extraordinary mission to gather information, scan and send data, and plot future scenarios to weaken our institutions,” Cabalza, a professor of International Security at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) said, adding that the incident would deepen Manila’s doubts about Beijing’s sincerity in establishing a credible BCM. Analysts believe such espionage cases will continue alongside other China-led cyber and disinformation acts. As such, Cabalza called for a robust national ID system in the Philippines to counter such activities. Last year, over 1,000 Chinese nationals were found to have acquired fraudulent identity documents in the Philippines, such as birth certificates and national IDs. “The government should hasten a flawless system and legal remedy to include cyber espionage, severely punishable under our domestic laws,” Cabalza said. https://lnkd.in/gj8NwHXB