Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday denied doing nothing while China continued to build up its defenses in the South China Sea as lawmakers…
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday denied doing nothing while China continued to build up its defenses in the South China Sea as lawmakers questioned the Duterte administration’s “seeming lack of response” to Beijing’s militarization of the strategic waterway.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. also parried suggestions of a cop-out, telling a news forum in Manila that President Rodrigo Duterte was ready to go to war if the Chinese harmed Filipino troops manning the Philippines’ outposts in the Spratly archipelago.
“The other night, the President said if his troops are harmed, that could be his red line,” Esperon said.
Following Malacañang’s line, however, Esperon played down China’s landing of long-range bombers on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago, saying the island was not located in Philippine territory.
‘Are we the target?’
He also brushed aside reports that China had deployed antiship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three reefs claimed by the Philippines—Kagitingan (internationally known as Fiery Cross Reef), Zamora (Subi) and Panganiban (Mischief)—saying they posed no danger to the country.
“Are we the target? Should we be alarmed? I don’t think so, because we are not at war with China,” said Esperon, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“So [should we protest] that? I don’t think so,” he added.
The President has taken flak in recent weeks for not confronting Beijing following news of the landing of H-6K bombers on Woody Island and the deployment of weapons on Philippine territory, with opposition lawmakers outraged by his saying he did not want to go to war with a far superior China.
