菲律宾考虑建设国防经济区（在线收听）

Philippines Woos Arms Manufacturers 菲律宾考虑建设国防经济区

BATAAN, PHILIPPINES—

The Philippines ongoing territorial tensions with China have led it to try to modernize its military, which for years had one of the smallest budgets in Asia. The country is spending more on more advanced ships and planes, but it is also trying to entice arms manufacturers to set up shop locally.

Each day 200,000 bullets are produced at the Government Arsenal. But it is not enough to supply the Philippine Armed Forces with the ammunition it requires.

政府军工厂每天生产200000枚子弹。但这并不能满足菲律宾武装部队的弹药所需

The facility’s director, Jonathan Martir, explained a plan to open a defense economic zone, a tax-free place for foreign arms manufacturers to make more and better weapons for the Philippines.

这座设施工厂的主管乔纳森·玛特尔表示他想开放一个国防经济开发区,供外国军火制造商为菲律宾制造出更多更好武器的一处免税之地。

“We’re going to achieve self-reliance simply because we’re going to manufacture here in the Philippines... imagine us manufacturing high level equipment, weaponry, that we’ve never manufactured before,” he said.

“我们希望能够实现自力更生,因为我们要在菲律宾本地进行生产…想象我们制造之前从未生产过的高级装备,武器。”

Upgrading Manila's aging arsenal is just one part of the plan. Manila is also conducting joint exercises with Japanese and American forces, improving the country's ability to patrol and secure its thousands of remote islands.

为国家的老龄化武器更新换代只是这项计划的一部分。马尼拉正同日本，美国部队进行联合军事演习,提高这个国家巡逻及确保成千上万偏远岛屿安全的能力。

Beijing has built military outposts in parts of the South China Sea, known here as the West Philippine Sea. That includes a landing strip on a once-submerged reef.

中国已在自己的南海地区建立军事前哨站,而在菲律宾这个国家，这片区域被称为西菲律宾海。包括曾一度淹埋在礁上的着陆跑道。

Both countries say they are trying to avoid confrontation, but Manila-based defense consultant Jose Antonio Custodio said there are no illusions about how the two-armed forces compare.

“Against a country like China and the lack of any capabilities on the Philippine side, the West Philippines Sea installations can be overrun in barely half a day,” he said.

The effort to try to make those forces more formidable is taking shape at Government Arsenal, even though some of the equipment here dates back to the Second World War.

“The sorry state of our defense industry right now, even without the threat from the South China Sea, we still have to improve our capability to manufacture our own ammunition,” Martir stated.

He added that the arsenal still needs presidential approval to allow foreign firms to make weapons here.