DFA backs Aquino’s remarks on China

President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) supported the statement of President Benigno Aquino III against China, saying that the international community should unite against Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“Expansionism in the form of the 9-dash line in the South China Sea is in gross violation of the rule of law and threatens peace and stability,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a press conference Thursday.

“This expansionism is being driven by might and not what is right. We should learn from history that appeasement does not halt expansionism. To prevent the mistake of the past, the entire international community should unite in upholding the rule of law,” he said.

China claims the entire of the South China Sea including portions of the Philippines 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone that cover the hotly disputed Spratlys group of islands and Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippine has filed for an arbitration case before the United Nations permanent court of arbitration against China’s claim.

China protested saying that it will not participate and insisted on bilateral talks. The Philippines is set to submit its written arguments in March.

Aquino said in an interview with the New York Times Tuesday that the world has to resist the increasingly aggressive territorial claims of China. He cited similarities when Nazi-led Germany occupied what is now Czechoslovakia before World War II.

Adolf Hitler demanded for what is then Sudetenland and Western nations gave in to appease the German dictator.

“If we say yes to something we believe is wrong now, what guarantee is there that the wrong will not be further exacerbated down the line?” Aquino said in the interview.

“At what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough’? Well, the world has to say it,” he said.

Aquino was criticized in a commentary published on China’s state news agency calling him an amateur politician.

“His latest reported attack against China, in which he senselessly compared his northern neighbor to the Nazi Germany, exposed his true color as an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality,” Ming Jinwei said in his column on Xinhua news agency published February 5.

“Aquino’s latest attack against China may very much have squandered this unique opportunity to further improve relations with China,” he said.

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