Japan and the Philippines Hold Training Exercise in S China Sea

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Oliver Holmes, 'We Have Short Memories': Japan Unites with Former Foes to Resist China's Empire of Sand. The Guardian, June 26, 2015.
https://www.theguardian.com/worl ... inas-empire-of-sand

Quote:

“It was first time the Japanese military had conducted training operations in the south-east Asian country since Imperial Japan surrendered in 1945 following a three-year occupation of the Philippines. Their troops were pushed out by Americans allied with guerrilla Filipino resistance forces.

“ 'We Filipinos have very short memories,' joked one woman in Puerto Princesa, the town where the air base is located. Some also have Japanese blood — the children of Filipino women and Japanese soldiers who were based here.

"And with the military complaining that it is one of the weakest in Asia, the Philippines feels it needs Tokyo as a buffer against China, two months before the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender.

Note:
(a) "It was American soldiers held captive by Japanese troops during the second world war who first dug through the thick, damp mud to build an airstrip on the Philippine island of Palawan. * * * These fears [among all three countries--Japan, the Philippines and US-- of China's ambitions over the entire South China Sea] have brought 21 sweating Japanese pilots and engineers in grass-green jumpsuits back to Palawan this week, where they mingled and posed for selfies on the runway with their Filipino counterparts, in darker, greyer attire at Antonio Bautista air base."

The air strip American prisoners of war (POWs) built in World War II became a civilian airport, a portion of which was converted in 1775 to an air base.
(i) The Wikipedia page for Antonio Bautista Air Base states, "The base shares a single, 9,000 foot long runway with Puerto Princesa Airport."
(ii) in a Web page for Antonio Bautista Air Base, Globalsecurity.org says, "Antonio Bautista Air Base is located on [Puerto Princesa in] the narrow island of Palawan, making it the closest Philippine air base to the disputed Spratly Islands. The base shares a single, 9,000 foot long runway with Puerto Princesa [International] Airport."
(iii) Antonio Bautista
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Bautista
(1937-1974; pilot of the Philippine Air Force, battling insurgent separatist in Mindanao, "flew his F-86 Sabre Jet through a fusillade" of bullets, plane was hit and caught fire)
(iv) Puerto Princesa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Princesa
(view the map; section 1 History: folk etymology)
(v) Spanish English dictionary
* puerto (noun masculine; Latin noun masculine portus port, harbor): "port, harbor"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/puerto
* princesa (noun feminine; from French [noun feminine] princesse, and Latin [noun feminine principissa]; the male form in French and Latin are, respectively, prince and princeps]
(vi) history
(A) Survivor: Corporal Glenn McDole and the Palawan Massacre. Leatherneck Magazine, June 2009, at 26-27
https://www.marineheritage.org/Survivor.pdf
("On 12 Aug, 1942 he [McDole as a POW] landed on Palawan * * * his home for the next 2 1/2 years. In a courtyard in front of a U-shaped barracks, the prisoners were met by the commanders of the 131 1st Airfield Battalion, Captain Nagayoshi Kojima, nicknamed 'the weasel' by the POWs.  'Kojima stood on a pedestal so he could look down on us,' McDole remembered.  'In a squeaky voice, he would say, 'Americans,' and pause, 'today we build roads.'  It wasn't long before we knew it was a lie. We were to build an airstrip.' " /  [photo legend:] “Japanese fighter aircraft operated from the Palawan airstrip, which included a concrete runway down the middle, concrete turnoffs and two dirt strips, all built by the POWs")

* Leatherneck (disambiguation)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherneck_(disambiguation)
(Leatherneck [qv] is a military slang term for a member of the United States Marine Corps.  Leatherneck may also refer to: "Leatherneck Magazine, a magazine for current and former members of the US Marine Corps")
(B) Before US invaded Palawan, Japanese massacred the POWs, but some escaped to tell the story, including McDole.
Map Showing Puerto Princesa at Palawan Island. Awesome Stories, undated
https://www.awesomestories.com/a ... t-Palawan-Island//1
("Japanese guards had transferred 150 Allied prisoners of war from Cabanatuan to the Puerto Princesa prison camp on Palawan Island.  For 2½ years they worked to build an air strip.  On the 14th of December, 1944, Japanese commanders at the prison camp decided to brutally execute their prisoners.  Eleven prisoners escaped")

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(b) Paragraph 2 of the Guardian report stated: "Now, in 2015, two spy planes, one Japanese and one American, stand side by side on that same runway.”  
(i) The “Japanese” aircraft refers to “P3-C Orion” (which is in the backgrounds of photos of the Guardian report). See (c) below.
(ii) But The Guardian did not elaborate on “American” aircraft.

(c) The Guardian report later says, “A joint-mission in a Japanese P3-C Orion surveillance plane with a smaller Philippine Navy Islander aircraft over the South China Sea on Tuesday was sold by Philippines Lieutenant Commander Lued Lincuna as practice for potential humanitarian coordination, not to resist China. But the message to Beijing is clear — a symbolic and historic partnership against China’s role in waters 80 miles off the west coast of Palawan.”
(i) Britten-Norman Islander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten-Norman_Islander
(Manufacturer: Britten-Norman [a British firm]; Produced 1965–present; section 3 Operators)
(ii) list of Britten-Norman Islander operators
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Britten-Norman_Islander_operators(Military operators: "Philippine Navy - Present operator, used for reconnaissance and liaison duties")

(d) “ 'People on Palawan support the navy because the islands are in the west Philippine sea,' she [shop worker Jennifer Berto] said.”
(i) For west Philippine sea, see South China Sea
http://n.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea
(section 1 Names: "In September 2012, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III signed Administrative Order No. 29, mandating that all government agencies use the name "West Philippine Sea" to refer to the parts of the South China Sea within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, and tasked the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) to use the name in official maps")
(ii) Not to be confused with Philippine Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Sea
(iii) After this, read the report quickly, until Oyster Bay.

(e) "At the forefront of this is Oyster Bay, a naturally protected cove with a deep harbour capable of -- yet a pipe dream for now: few man-made facilities for now] hosting large warships. On the western side of Palawan, the bay’s biggest selling point is that it opens directly into the South China Sea.  Philippine officials say the bay, which is protected from the monsoons by its high mountains, will be used to host the country’s two large warships and act as a strategic base for the United States to rotate troops and ships, who are presently stuck on the other side of the island. * * * Oyster Bay is only accessible by sea but once a connecting road is complete, officials say the major work can be done."
(i) Oyster Bay is a western inlet of Ulugan Bay. For this, search images.google.com with (Oyster Bay Palawan) -- without parentheses. But where is Ulugan Bay in Palawan? See next.
(ii) Zachary Keck, The Philippines is Building a New Naval Base in South China Sea. The Diplomat, Oct 8, 2015.
http://globalbalita.com/2013/10/ ... in-south-china-sea/

This Web page republished The Diplomat article, but carries a map that did not appear in The Diplomat.