Marcos: PH to push back vs China if rights in WPS are ignored

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Philippines will push back against China if its sovereign rights are ignored, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Monday.

”Our independent foreign policy compels us to cooperate with them on matters where our interests align, to respectfully disagree on areas where our views differ, and to push back when our sworn principles such as our sovereignty, our sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea are questioned or ignored,” Marcos said before the Lowy Institute. 

He said the Philippines’ interest in the region lies in ensuring that the universal and unified character of the 982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is consistently upheld.

WPS is part of the South China Sea which China claims nearly in its entirety despite a 2016 international arbitral ruling that denigrated its massive ownership to the resource-rich sea. Beijing has repeatedly said its ownership of SCS is “indisputable.” 

A vital trading and shipping lane, the South China Sea — dotted with rocks, shoals and reefs where rich oil and mineral deposits were found — are claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. 

Recently, several near-collisions with Chinese ships and other dangerous maneuvers, including a laser-pointing incident, by its coast guard against Filipino vessels have frequently occurred during routine resupply missions and patrols to Philippine-claimed features in WPS, sparking concerns among several Asian and Western states, such as the US, European Union, Australia and Japan. 

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez recently told a forum attended by Filipino and foreign diplomats that the long-raging disputes in the South China Sea is Asia’s “real flashpoint” for a major armed conflict, adding it is the “most difficult challenge” Manila has faced since World War II.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila, however, criticized Romualdez for his remark, saying he “wantonly hyped up the South China Sea issue and made speculations and malicious smears against China.” 

The Philippine Embassy in Washington refuted China’s statement. —KBK, GMA Integrated News