Duterte: Diplomacy still better than military alternative on sea dispute
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2019 14:51:17 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday reiterated that diplomacy was a better alternative to a military response to the dispute over the West Philippine (South China) Sea.
Duterte was reacting to reports of China’s increased activities in the areas of conflict, including the presence of its ships near Kota and Pag-asa island, which are Philippine-occupied territories.
There were also reports of Chinese boats harvesting taklobos or giant clams at the Scarborough (Panatag) shoal.
Speaking at the PDP-Laban campaign rally in Agusan del Norte on Sunday night, Duterte said that he wanted to “preserve and protect” the Philippines whose soldiers and policemen would just be killed if it would go to war over the dispute.
Duterte had asked the Chinese not to touch his soldiers at the Pag-asa island because there would be trouble.
“I am not — this is not a warning, this is just a word of advice to my friends because we are friends with China. So I am requesting… I will not plead or beg, but I’m just telling you that layoff the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there,” Duterte said in a speech in Palawan last April 4.
“And, if you touch [the island,] that is another story. I will tell my soldiers to ‘prepare for suicide missions,’” he had said.
The Philippines has filed diplomatic protests against China over its “incursions,” invoking the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at the Hague, Netherlands that had granted the country “sovereign rights” over the marine resources in the disputed waters and junking China’s nine-dash claim. RALPH VILLANUEVA
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