The Philippine president says his Southeast Asian nation won't start a war with China over a disputed shoal where their ships have figured in a tense naval standoff for a week as Philippines hailed the start of major war games with the United States Monday. President Benigno Aquino III said Monday his country would assert its sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines but has pulled out a warship and replaced it with a coast guard vessel to “de-escalate the situation.” Aquino says the Philippines will continue talks with China to resolve the impasse, which began last Tuesday when two Chinese ships prevented a Philippine warship from arresting several Chinese fishermen. Aquino, quoting the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, said: “It's better to jaw, jaw, jaw than to war, war, war.” More than 6,000 Filipino and US soldiers will take part in the 12 days of exercises across the Philippines, which come as the host nation is embroiled in an escalating dispute with China over rival claims to the South China Sea. In a speech at the opening ceremony for the exercises in Manila, Philippines' armed forces chief Jessie Dellosa did not specifically mention China but said the war games highlighted strong US support for its weaker ally. “Given the international situation we are in, I say that this exercise, in coordination with all those we had in the past, (is) timely and mutually beneficial,” Dellosa said. “The conduct of this annual __
