THE Philippines will keep its “close ties” with China, despite reports that Beijing has nearly completed military installations in at least seven reefs in the contested South China Sea, Malacañang said on Monday, February 5.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the Philippines would remain friendly with China as it could not afford to declare war.
“Right now, the posture of the President is maintain close ties so they wouldn’t have any reason to use those arms in those islands,” Roque told reporters in a press conference held at Malacañang.
Roque’s latest remark came following an exclusive report by a local newspaper, which said that Kagitingan (Fiery Cross), Calderon (Cuarteron), Burgos (Gaven), Mabini (Johnson South), Panganiban (Mischief), Zamora (Subi), and McKennan (Hughes) reefs had nearly been transformed as air and naval facilities based on aerial photos.
Roque stressed that China’s supposed militarization did not happen “overnight” as it has long been done even before the Duterte government assumed office in June 2016.
“This militarization -- if you can call it militarization -- did not happen during the Duterte administration alone. It’s been long militarized. And the question is, ‘What can we do? What did the past administration do and what can we do?’” he said.
“If the Aquino administration was not able to do anything about these artificial islands, what they want us to do? We cannot declare war, not only is it illegal but because also, it’s impossible for us to declare war at this point,” he added.
The Philippines won its petition lodged against China before the Hague, Netherlands’ Permanent Court of Arbitration, after the international court issued a ruling on July 12, 2016 that invalidated Beijing’s “nine-dash line” claim in the resource-rich waters.
But Duterte has repeatedly declined to assume an adversarial stance against China.
Roque said the Duterte government trusts China’s “good faith” when it assured that there would be no new reclamation projects in the contested waters.
“We’re relying on the promise of China not to reclaim new artificial islands and not to make further reclamations... We’ll continue relying not only [on] the principle of good faith,” he said.
“We’ll also continue to rely on the general prohibition on the use of force, which is found under international law. And we expect that China, being not just a member of the United Nations but also a permanent member of the Security Council, will adhere to the prohibition on the use of force.” (VoxPop Philippines)
