President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — File photo / REUTERS
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. expressed optimism that the joint exercises in the West Philippine Sea with the Philippines’ international allies will result in less aggression from China.
The Philippines held its first-ever joint exercises with Australia, Japan, and the United States in the disputed area on Sunday.
Asked in a joint interview in Bacolod City on Monday if he thinks the multilateral exercises will lessen the confrontations in the West Philippine Sea, Marcos said: “I sincerely hope so.”
“We still continue to talk at a ministerial level, at a sub-ministerial level, at a people-to-people level,” Marcos said.
“Everything that needs to be done, we are doing so that we speak with the Chinese leadership, Beijing, to talk with them so as not to heat up the situation and for us to talk properly so that there are no clashes, no cannons or water cannons. We won’t return to that,” he added in Filipino.
However, at least two Chinese vessels tailed the exercises last weekend.
Marcos seemed unfazed by this report, saying that such behavior from Beijing was almost normal.
The most recent aggressive assault from Chinese vessels left three Filipino crewmen injured after the Chinese Coast Guard bombarded the Philippine ship with a water cannon.
Beijing has issued ominous warnings to Manila, saying that the Philippines is going down a dangerous path.