President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and the 10-line dash map released by Beijing | PHOTOS: Official facebook page of Bongbong Marcos
MANILA, Philippines—President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday (Sept. 1) said a formal response was still being prepared to China’s 10-dash line map expanding its territorial claims but would keep defending Philippine territory against intrusions.
In an ambush interview in Palawan province, Marcos said the government has long been upholding Philippine territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea. It was his father, the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who created the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan to affirm Philippine territorial rights in the area.
“We’ll continue to defend our territorial sovereignty, our territorial rights,” said Marcos Jr.
“We have not changed our approach, it is other countries around us that have changed their approach,” he said.
“Once again, we have received the news that now the nine-dash line has been extended to the ten-dash line. And we will have to respond to all of these—and we will,” said the President.
“But again, these are operational details that I would prefer not to talk about,” said Marcos Jr.
China recently unveiled a map, containing the so-called 10-dash line, which expands its claims in the South China Sea to include Taiwan, a democratic nation that China considers to be its province, and most of the West Philippine Sea, which is inside Philippine exclusive economic zone.
“We have stayed true to the rules-based international law, especially the Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” said Marcos Jr.
“I think, puts us in very solid ground in terms of our claims to territorial sovereignty, maritime territory,” he said.
“This has been validated and supported by many, many countries around the world, and we should take strength in that, and I believe that again is very big help to the Philippines in continuing to defend our maritime borders,” said Marcos Jr., who appeared to reverse a policy of appeasement toward China embraced by his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
The Department of Foreign Affairs had questioned the new Chinese 10-dash line map, saying it had no basis.