THE PHILIPPINES under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has filed 199 diplomatic protests against China, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, amid growing tensions in the South China.
Last year, the Marcos government filed 63 protests over Beijing’s actions in the waterway, while one was filed on Jan. 13 after Beijing deployed its biggest coast guard ship vessel into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ma. Teresita C. Daza told reporters in a WhatsApp message on Tuesday.
The rest were filed from July 2022 to 2023.
The Philippines, the US and Japan on Monday vowed to further boost cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in the South China Sea, the three nations said after a call among their leaders.
“Diplomacy and lawfulness are the same boiling waters that could soften China’s sticks,” Chester B. Cabalza, founding president of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
Mr. Marcos, outgoing US President Joseph R. Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met virtually on Monday morning, in which they “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation,” the presidential palace in Manila said in a statement.
The United States has called out China for interfering in Philippine maritime operations and undermining regional stability, urging Beijing to stop its “dangerous and destabilizing conduct” in the strategic waters.
In 2016, a United Nations-backed arbitration court based in the Hague said China’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea was illegal.
China has largely ignored the ruling, calling it void. Aside from the Philippines and China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim parts of the waterway.
Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel on Monday urged the government to file cases before an international court and bolster alliances to deter Chinese aggression.
National Security Council spokesman Jonathan E. Malaya last week said the so-called monster ship would be “met with appropriate response” if it does something provocative. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
