PH protests China’s ‘trespassing’
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:15:35 +0000
LOCSIN
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. ordered yesterday the filing of a diplomatic protest against Beijing over what he described as “trespassing” of Chinese warships that made repeated intrusions in Philippine territorial waters.
In a social media post, Locsin directed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for the Asia-Pacific (ASPAC) desk of the Department of Foreign Affairs to “fire” the diplomatic protest in response to the concerns raised by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana against the series of unauthorized passage of Chinese military vessels in the southern waters of the Philippines.
“@DFAPHL @ASPAC fire diplomatic protest over Chinese warship; drop the diplomatic crap; say it is ours period; they’re trespassing. If we did it already fire another. We won’t run out. & don’t wait for formal intel. This is the Secretary of National Defense no less. Fire at will,” Locsin said in his tweet.
Also on Monday, Surigao del Norte 1stDist. Representative Francisco “Bingo” Matugas called on President Duterte to raise with Chinese President Xi Jinping the issue of China’s warships sailing through Philippine territorial waters after the Armed Forces of the Philippines monitored three more unauthorized incursions in the Sibutu Strait off Mindanao in August.
“We support Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement that he hoped the President would take up this matter with President Xi when they meet later this month. We agree that it has become what he called “an irritant” in the bilateral relations of the two countries,” Matugas said in a statement.
The lawmaker from Siargao, one of the major tourist destinations in the country today, said the actuations of Chinese ships “undermine Philippine sovereignty and, in a sense, threaten the security of the country, particularly those near the affected provinces.” (Roy Mabasa)