By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is signaling the country may take a tougher stance against China regarding those violent confrontations in the South China Sea.
On Thursday, Marcos said that Manila should go beyond filing diplomatic protests with Beijing. That comes after the Philippines foreign ministry said it had sent a written protest to China following the latest incident, in which the Chinese coast guard used bladed weapons to prevent Filipino forces from resupplying a small unit on a shoal in the South China Sea that both countries claim as their own.
Marcos told reporters that the Philippines has already sent a number of protests to China.
“We have over a hundred protests already. We have already made a similar number of demarche (the formal name for a protest delivered through diplomatic channels),” Marcos said. “So we have to do more than just that.”
Marcos didn’t say what “more” could mean.
He did echo previous statements from Philippine officials that China’s actions did not constitute an armed attack, which in theory could trigger action under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the US. The day after the incident, the State Department made a point of saying the pact “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft – including those of its coast guard – anywhere in the South China Sea.”
Marcos said that an earlier statement from a Philippine official describing the confrontation as a misunderstanding or an accident was premature.
“Initially, we were looking at data. Maybe it was just a mistake. But since I visited WESCOM (Western Command)…I said, ‘What really happened?’ Clearly, it was not a misunderstanding. They really went there to block our resupply,” he said.
“They did not point guns at us. But it was a deliberate action to stop our people. And in the process of that…they boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment from a Philippine vessel. So, although there were no arms involved, nonetheless, it is still a deliberate action and it is essentially an illegal action that was taken by the Chinese forces. “
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The dispute centers on what is known as the Second Thomas Shoal. It’s located in the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and Manila has a deliberately –grounded warship and a small group of personnel there.
Beijing claims roughly 90 percent of the South China Sea for itself. In recent months, China’s coast guard has used water cannon and ramming tactics to harass Philippine ships that patrol the region and resupply its forces on the shoal.
Meanwhile, the US and the Philippines have been strengthening their military ties. In recent months, there have been multiple joint exercises involving thousands of troops. During one of those drills, the US deployed medium-range missiles in the Philippines – the first time the US has deployed those types of missiles since the Cold War.
At one point this month, the US Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier in the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan, was restocked, refueled and resupplied for extended deterrence missions in the Philippine Sea.
