The Duterte administration need not rush into joint exploration arrangements with China before Beijing first acknowledges Philippines’s sovereignty over its resource-rich territories in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Sen. Richard J. Gordon said over the weekend.
“Joint explorations should come after clarifying where we stand,” Gordon asserted in a radio interview last Sunday.
The senator made the assertion amid recurring reports of Chinese intrusions in WPS, even as he suggested: “Let us go on with our lives, continue doing business with China and invite them to invest here.”
Gordon stressed President Du-terte’s recent efforts to “fix” relations with Beijing should not be taken to mean he “abandoned our claim”.
He added that when the Philippine government gives the green light to resume all explorations within its territory, Malacañang can invoke international law and the United Nations.
Gordon sounded the word of caution two days after President Duterte dropped a bombshell, saying that in his one on one with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Beijing, the latter bluntly told him that if Manila pushes through with plans to drill in West Philippine Sea, “we will go to war.”
He said he “does not agree with what China is doing” and prodded its officials “do something about illegal drugs brought here from Chinese sources”. At the same time, the senator prodded the Duterte administration to tap international support to step up the pressure on Beijing to sit down for talks to resolve the brewing territorial dispute with its neighbor.
“We should enlist Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] to force a discussion with China,” Gordon said, amid recent remarks by the Chinese leader to Duterte about China’s readiness to go to war.
“If he [Jinping] really said that, let us go to the UN,” the senator added, voicing concern the issue can be blown out of proportion and trigger a war.
Gordon insisted that members of Congress must seek clarification of this issue from both the Palace and the Chinese ambassador, saying: “We are not out of defenses.”
Image credits: AP Photo