Various military equipment amounting to P1 billion (Renminbi/RMB 130 million) were donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines recently, according to the Department of National Defense (DND).
DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said the first batch of the donations arrived in Manila last Jan. 16. These comprised around RMB 76 million or P615 million worth of equipment.
"The donation comprises various military equipment such rescue and relief equipment, drone systems, detectors, water purification vehicles, ambulances, firetrucks, x-ray machines, EOD robots, bomb disposal suits and transport vehicles; and engineering equipment such as backhoes, dumptrucks, forklifts, and earthmovers," Andolong said in a statement on Friday, Jan. 21.
The equipment will be formally turned over to the DND and Armed Forces of the Philippines next month, Andolong added.
Meanwhile, the second batch of donations worth RMB 54 or around P437 million "will be delivered on a later date," the defense official added.
The donations from China arrived just as the AFP secured big-ticket projects as part of its modernization.
The latest of these projects was the acquisition of BrahMos supersonic missiles from India on Dec. 31, 2021 which will be used to fortify the country's territorial defense in the West Philippine Sea -- a tense region in the South China Sea which Manila and Beijing both claim as their own despite a 2016 tribunal ruling that favored the Philippines.