Duterte wants China’s help to combat sea pirates, terrorism in SE Asia

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Ezra ACAYAN

If we can’t do it, let’s call China.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he wanted China to help guard the major sea lane in Southeast Asia to address piracy and terrorism in the region’s waters.

“Sasabihin ko sa inyo, kung hindi natin kaya (I’m telling you, if we can’t do it), we’ll just have to call China to come in and blow them off just like Somalia, that Aden Strait there, were it not for the presence of the Chinese, hindi mahinto ‘yung piracy doon (piracy won’t be stopped there),” he said in his speech before departing for India at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Duterte made the call to member states of Asean as he left Manila on Wednesday afternoon to attend the Asean India Summit in New Delhi from January 24 to 26.

The President said the only solution to stop piracy and terrorism on Southeast Asia’s waters was a “hardline policy.”

“So we have to come up with a platform of how to deal with terrorism. Ako (Me), I go for a hardline policy. Blow them up in the high seas. Sirain mo. Kanyunin mo (Destroy it. Blast a cannon). Otherwise, if we do not do the extreme measures, we’d always be at the mercy of criminals,” he said.

“Ngayon, ‘pag ayaw nila, eh ‘di tayo (Now if they don’t want to, then we’ll do it). And my orders to the Armed Forces would really be to destroy. Now, well, destroy means you have to destroy physically. And if you have to kill, you kill. That’s the only way to destroy an enemy. It cannot be empty words,” he added.

The waters surrounding Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have been a haven for kidnap-for-ransom terrorists who usually board ships and kidnap dozens of crewmen. /je