Spokesperson Charles Jose INQUIRER file photo
The Philippines will not snub China’s military parade on Thursday to mark Japan’s defeat by the Allies during World War II, despite the growing tensions between the two countries over competing claims in the South China Sea.
“Our ambassador to China will be our official representative [in the parade],” Assistant Secretary Charles Jose, the Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said in a text message on Wednesday.
Erlinda Basilio, the country’s ambassador to China, will join diplomats and world leaders in the military parade that is believed will be staged by Beijing as a show of force.
Mayor Joseph Estrada will also be attending the parade but as an invited guest and not as an official representative of the Philippines.
Beijing is reportedly staging a huge military spectacle in Tiananmen Square, with some 12, 000 soldiers, 500 pieces of military equipment, including tanks and missiles and its 200 military aircraft, paradin before Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korea’s Park Geun-hye and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The Philippines has been locked in a dispute with China over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.—Niña P. Calleja