China said it will implement “stronger countermeasures” in the South China Sea as it accused the Philippines of provoking trouble, allegedly with the backing of the United States.
“From Ren’ai Jiao (Ayungin Shoal) to Xianbin Jiao (Sabina Shoal) and from Houteng Jiao (Rozul Reef) to Huangyan Dao (Panatag Shoal), such repeated provocations have allowed the international community to see clearly who is undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea and who is fabricating and spreading lies,” said Wu Quan, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense.
“More provocations lead to stronger countermeasures. Should the Philippine side stubbornly follow the wrong path, China will never back down,” he added.
Ray Powell, a maritime security analyst and former US military, earlier said China’s actions in the disputed West Philippine Sea should already be classified as “occupation.”
Powell also urged the Philippines to adopt a new strategy to prevent further encroachment of its territories.
“Realistically looking at the data, looking at the way China is increasing its presence around Scarborough, denying the Philippines access to places like Sabina shoal, all of these lead me to the conclusion that China is trying to control a very, very large heart of the West Philippine Sea,” Powell told ANC’s Headstart.
Earlier, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ruled out deploying Navy warships in response to China’s growing aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
“We are not at war. We don’t need Navy warships,” Mr. Marcos said.
The option to deploy gray ships was first floated after Chinese warships with bow numbers 500 and 571 tailed the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Teresa Magbanua “at the very close distance of 300 yards” on December 4.
PCG spokesperson for WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela, in the history of incursions of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the WPS, it was the first time Chinese warships “interfered and participated in the harassment of a PCG vessel.”
On the same day, the CCG also harassed the BRP Melchora Aquino, BRP Cape Engaño and the BFAR vessels that were deployed at Escoda Shoal.
Mr. Marcos, however, said deploying warships would be seen as “provocative” and could escalate the situation.
“The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tries to bring down the level of tension,” the commander-in-chief said.
“All we are doing is resupplying our fishermen, protecting our territorial rights…We are going to continue to perform our mission. If we look at the evolution of the situation in the WPS, the Philippines has never been an agent of escalation of tensions,” he added.
Earlier, Tarriela said the deployment of warships to the WPS was a “policy option” and it was up to the President to decide on it.
“For the past three administrations, the Philippine Coast Guard has been chosen to be deployed to the West Philippine Sea because, for the past administrations, they believed it (deploying warships) is de-escalatory, non-provocative,” Tarriela said.
“(But) the Philippine Coast Guard, we can never replace the Philippine Navy with the issue of territorial defense. And it is very alarming that (Chinese) warships are encroaching on our own exclusive economic zone,” he added. With Rex Espiritu
