The Philippines confirmed continued support for maintaining the position against China’s aggression on SCS despite still experiencing tension and some hostile encounters in the important waterway.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano vowed that his country would ‘never back down and resist and contain force, pressure, interference, mischief and other schemes and acts that endanger our security and order.’
The remarks were made against the backdrop of a series of encounter incidents between the Philippine and Chinese coast and naval forces in the said disputed waters, including the recent incident where Chinese personnel armed with knives, sticks, and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine Navy boats during a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
Ano stated that the Philippines does not accept the use of force that aims at “coercing and subordinating the national interests of the Philippines” while at the same expressing the Philippines’s commitment to peace and solving disputes diplomatically and not militarily.
The Philippine position is based on an award the international arbitral tribunal gave in 2016, which declared Chinese SCS claims lacking basis. China called this a ‘sheer violation of international law’ and declared it illegal, null, and void.
The socio-political setting reveals that in a bid to balance China’s increasing dominance in the region, the Philippines has been strengthening its Military relations with the USA and its partners. This week, Manila signed a defense agreement stipulating that Japan can use Philippine territory to deploy troops.
Ano said that the Philippines will keep on ‘’developing friendly relations with other countries having similar attitude’’ and that it is not against ‘’blunt talk house on honest and good faith’’ in solving the challenging problems in the South China Sea.
The several-hundred-kilometer long-continent corridor that China occupies, as well as the Philippines and several other South-East Asian countries, has always been a cause of tension. This means that the Philippines remains consistent with its position to ‘ stand its ground’ in asserting sovereignty and the rights in the sea amidst increasing probes by China. b
