Marcos counters China’s demand on sea row: PH didn’t start the problems

FILE PHOTO: A China Coast Guard ship fires its water cannon at Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels escorting supply boats chartered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in August 2023.  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines did not begin any of the problems arising from the South China Sea row. Marcos issued the remark in Prague on Friday, March 15, 2024, in response to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s call for the Philippines to stop misleading the international community and to stop using the South China Sea row to “instigate disputes.” VIDEOGRAB FROM PCG FACEBOOK PAGE

PRAGUE — The Philippines did not begin any of the problems arising from the row in the South China Sea as the government was busy running the country instead of starting commotions in the maritime dispute.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said this while noting that he could not think of any instance in which the country initiated any problem in the West Philippine Sea dispute.

“I can’t think of any instance where the Philippines has instigated anything, at any point, both verbally or militarily, or diplomatically,” he told reporters in a press conference here on Friday.

“We did not begin all of these problems. All of these commotions were not caused by the Philippines. I do not know what they are referring to,” he continued.

Marcos made the remarks in response to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s call for the Philippines to stop misleading the international community and to stop using the South China Sea row to “instigate disputes.”

This was after the President, in a press conference in Berlin earlier this week, said the Philippines did not reject any proposals by China to resolve the maritime row, but questioned Beijing’s premise of the 10-dash-line in asserting ownership of the South China Sea.

In Prague, Marcos said the government was “busy running the country and making the best life for Filipinos,” contrary to China’s claim that the Philippines was misleading the international community and instigating disputes.

Asked if the Philippines was open to reviving negotiations for a joint oil exploration with China in the South China Sea, Marcos said the government cannot compromise its territorial integrity.

“The sovereignty and sovereign rights and our territorial jurisdictions remain a key in all of these talks. We cannot, at any point, compromise the territorial integrity of the Philippines,” the President said.

“So that is going to be the main principle behind any kind of talks that we might have. Depending on areas that we are talking about, that will come into play. So let me leave it at that. That is the guiding principle that I’m following whenever it comes to all of these things,” he also said.

He was then responding to a request for comment on reports that state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. discovered a new reserve in the South China Sea with over 100 million tons of oil.