MANILA (Reuters) -Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr stated on Monday the nation is not going to use water cannons or any offensive weapons within the South China Sea.
The very last thing the Philippines needs to do is to lift tensions within the strategic waterway, Marcos advised reporters.
“We is not going to comply with the Chinese language coast guard and Chinese language vessels down that highway,” Marcos stated, including that the mission of Philippine navy and coast guard was to decrease tensions, and there no plans to put in water cannons on vessels.
China’s embassy in Manila didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Final week, Manila protested Beijing’s use of water cannons in opposition to Filipino vessels at a disputed shoal within the South China Sea, describing it as harassment and “harmful manoeuvres”, after an increase in tensions in current months.
China claims sovereignty over a lot of the South China Sea, a conduit for greater than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, together with elements claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
A world tribunal in 2016 stated China’s expansive declare had no authorized foundation, a choice Beijing has rejected.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Enhancing by John Mair)
