MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said China’s policy of detaining South China Sea “trespassers” was “completely unacceptable to the Philippines.”
In an interview during an event in Makati City on Saturday night, the Chief Executive said his administration would “take any measures to always protect our citizens.”
President Marcos, however, did not give specific details as to how the country would respond should a Filipino fisherfolk be detained by Chinese Coast Guard officials.
“That kind of action would be completely unacceptable to the Philippines,” Marcos said. “I do not talk about the operational details so you will [have to] leave it to us but the position we take is that is unacceptable.”
According to reports over the weekend, Beijing has authorized the Chinese Coast Guard to detain any person perceived as trespassing in waters which they claim.
The authorization came after the Atin Ito Coalition conducted a civilian mission to reach at the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea last week.
During the said mission, the group provided supplies to fishermen in the area and also laid out 12 symbolic orange buoys painted with the words “WPS ATIN ITO!” (The West Philippine Sea Is Ours!).
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague ruled that China’s claims over the South China Sea has no legal basis, a decision Beijing does not recognize./PN
