Several senators on Sunday urged the government to take action against China such as filing a diplomatic protest over its threat of war against the Philippines if Manila tried to enforce an arbitration ruling and drill for oil at a reef within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in…
Several senators on Sunday urged the government to take action against China such as filing a diplomatic protest over its threat of war against the Philippines if Manila tried to enforce an arbitration ruling and drill for oil at a reef within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan urged Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to file the diplomatic protest against China two days after President Duterte disclosed the threat.
“Did China really threaten the Philippines with war after President Duterte asserted the Southeast Asian nation’s sovereignty over disputed territory in the West Philippine Sea? If so, then Foreign Secretary Cayetano should issue a diplomatic protest for this threat, ” Pangilinan said in a statement.
In remarks that could infuriate China, Mr. Duterte hit back on Friday at domestic critics who said he had gone soft on Beijing by refusing to pressure it to comply with an award last year by the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which ruled largely in favor of the Philippines in a challenge brought by Manila against Beijing’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea.
Mr. Duterte said he discussed the ruling with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met in Beijing on Monday, and got a firm but friendly warning.
“We intend to drill oil there. If it’s yours, well, that’s your view. But my view is, I can drill the oil, if there is some inside the bowels of the earth because it is ours, ” Mr. Duterte said in a speech, recalling his conversation with Xi.
“His response to me, ‘We’ re friends, we don’ t want to quarrel with you. We want to maintain the presence of warm relationships, but if you force the issue, we’ ll go to war,’ ” Mr. Duterte said.
The President had long expressed his admiration for Xi and said he would raise the arbitration ruling with him eventually, but needed first to strengthen relations between the two countries, which the Philippines was hoping would yield to billions of dollars in Chinese loans and infrastructure investments.
