Philippines must have courage to stand up against China —Locsin

March 25 ------ Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday said the country should stand up against China or else there will be continued "trenching" on the Philippines' territory. Based on Chino Gaston's report over "24 Oras," Locsin told senators that the Philippines may not have military means to fight back, but it has the right to protect its territory through the mutual defense treaty, which means that any attack on Philippine vessel is also an attack on the United States.

"And that lies within our power. We must have the courage to go where probably we will not be able to go back from because if you don’t send that message to the other side, then they will just keep trenching and trenching and trenching on our territory and then our sense of nation dies," the nation's top diplomat said during the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing at the Senate.

On Sunday, DFA filed diplomatic protest against China following reports by the Defense department that more than 200 Chinese vessels are staying at the disputed waters since March 7. From 220, the Philippine military said 183 vessels remained off the West Philippine Sea. In the same CA hearing, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Cirilito Sobejana also earlier said that it sent more naval assets to the Julian Felipe Reef to heighten visibility and defend the security of fishermen and the country's marine resources.

In 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea will trigger mutual defense obligations under Article 4 of the mutual defense treaty between Philippines and US. But China previously said the ships were just taking shelter near the reef due to rough conditions. China also hit countries such as the United States and Japan, which threw support on filing protests against China over the vessels, which supposedly created "tension" in the region.

Source: gmanetwork.com