Open sea lanes

If Bonhomme Richard sounds French rather than American, that’s because the amphibious assault ship of the US naval forces, currently sitting in Manila Bay, is the third vessel bearing the name of the original, which was a gift from the French and built as a merchant ship in 1765 for the French East India Company.

The original Bonhomme Richard was captained by the Scottish-born John Paul Jones, the first American naval ship commander and considered the father of the modern US Navy. He brought the ship to battle against the British warships Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the English coast on Sept. 23, 1779. Jones lost the Bonhomme Richard but captured the Serapis.

From its establishment, the US Navy has had an overriding mission, according to Marine Lt. Col. Steven Eastin, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Marines: to keep sea lanes open.

“Quite honestly the origins of our navy, back when Thomas Jefferson originally established the navy – if you remember, we were deploying to the Mediterranean to keep the sea lanes open there for commerce – we do the same thing today. We’ve done that throughout our entire history,” Eastin told journalists who were invited to visit the Bonhomme Richard the other day. “We’ve been operating in the Pacific AOR every day since the inception of our navy, quite honestly, and ever since thereafter once we started coming to the Pacific.”

Another military officer at the media briefing clarified that the Bonhomme Richard is not on a freedom of navigation mission in the West Philippine Sea. The warship, which is armed with various types of missiles and .50-caliber machine guns, is on “routine deployment” in Manila mainly for R&R of its crew as well as to deliver humanitarian aid to victims of Mayon Volcano’s eruption.

The ship’s crew of about 1,200 sailors and 1,300 Marines can go ashore at the SM Mall of Asia. During our visit, there was a continuing line of sailors and Marines waiting to board the smaller boat that would take them to the MOA.

Later, I learned that militant groups tried to stage a protest rally in front of the US embassy to coincide with the Bonhomme Richard’s port call. At the MOA landing dock, on the other hand, Filipinos – mostly youths – were taking selfies with the ship crew emerging from the restricted landing area.

The attitude is reflected in a survey taken last December, which showed Filipinos trusting the United States most among all countries. Canada followed, and then Japan.

Also touring the Bonhomme Richard during our visit were US Ambassador Sung Kim and his counterparts from allied states Japan, Koji Haneda, and South Korea, Han Dong-Man.

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It’s fitting that an American ship bearing a French name is in the area. Lately the French, who also gifted the Americans with the Statue of Liberty, have been emphasizing the need for freedom of navigation particularly in the Pacific, which is home to about 1.6 million French citizens residing mostly in its territories Tahiti and New Caledonia.

While US officials stress that the Bonhomme Richard, which sails tomorrow to the naval base in Sasebo, Japan where it is forward-deployed, is not on a freedom of navigation mission, the democratic powers are relied upon to ensure that sea lanes remain open. Especially in an area where China is aggressively staking a claim on any body of water bearing the country’s name.

This was not a problem when China was too busy with its internal issues and too poor to invest in its defense capability. Now that China has become prosperous enough to build up its military, and the leader who has pursued this policy is installed in power for life, there is an urgent need to ensure that Beijing will not impede freedom of navigation.

International response to Beijing’s moves in disputed waters have been largely tame, even after the Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague invalidated the country’s entire claim over the South China Sea.

Surely this has something to do with the fact that China is the largest trading partner of about 120 economies, including Japan and Taiwan. If the Chinese economy collapsed, it could bring down with it the US and much of the world.

The US has been reassuring allies that it is prepared to keep sea lanes open. Last Monday, for the first time since the Vietnam War, a US aircraft carrier backed by two smaller ships docked in Danang, Vietnam.

The five-day port call by the supercarrier Carl Vinson, according to US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink, highlighted US support “for a strong, prosperous and independent Vietnam.”

“We have gone from former enemies to close partners,” he said.

The Philippines is much less dependent economically on China. But President Duterte, for whom everything is personal, is still getting back at Washington for personal slights by bending over backwards to please Beijing. Duterte has lately mellowed due to the mood among his security forces, and with the US now under his kindred spirit Donald Trump. But the description of the situation by a Philippine diplomat still applies: What’s worse than being a lackey of the United States? Being a lackey of China!

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Duterte appears to have also warmed up to US Ambassador Sung Kim, who has kept a low profile and who, like the Japanese, have refrained from public criticism of human rights in the Philippines or the war on drugs.

Instead the Americans have tried to emphasize the two countries’ shared history and long alliance.

At the media briefing on the Bonhomme Richard, the commanding officer, Navy Capt. Larry McCullen, told us that as the ship sailed past Corregidor and entered Manila Bay on Sunday, he was moved by the thought of US soldiers fighting alongside Filipinos on the island during World War II, and the promise of Gen. Douglas MacArthur that he would return to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese.

The return took some time, during which my paternal grandfather became one of the soldiers forced by the Japanese to walk from Bataan to Capas in Tarlac in the infamous Death March. He survived but was paralyzed for life.

MacArthur, as we all know, fulfilled his promise and returned.

“That promise started what has been a very strong relationship for many, many years between the United States, the United States Navy and the Filipino people,” McCullen told us. “That’s what good partners and allies do… they make promises to one another, they keep those promises and work together to build strong and lasting relationships.”