IN WASHINGTON:
The Philippines’ ambassador to the US said on Wednesday that the country had not asked for help from the US to restock its troops in a standoff with China in the disputed South China Sea. He also said that the US was only giving the Philippines “visuals” to help it.
Manila said last week that the Chinese Coast Guard used “aggressive and illegal force” to stop a resupply mission for Filipino troops stationed on a rusting warship that was grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal. This is part of a growing territorial dispute with the Philippines, which has a long-standing defense treaty with the US.
According to Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, Manila was getting irritated with China’s moves and didn’t want to use the US treaty. Instead, it hoped that talks with Beijing in July would help ease tensions.
“As I said, this is our land, and we’ve been very clear about that from the start. We’d like to be able to supply our soldiers without having to bring in a third party.” “Because of this, we have not asked the US for any help whatsoever,” Romualdez said.
He said that the U.S. was only giving them “visuals” to help them see what was going on around the ship.
The Philippines said that a sailor was seriously hurt and that ships were damaged in the fight last week. The Philippines military said that Chinese Coast Guard members carrying knives and spears stole guns and “deliberately punctured” Philippine boats that were part of the mission.
China disagreed with the Philippine story, saying that the steps that were taken were legal, professional, and above reproach.
Romualdez said that the Philippines wanted to meet with Chinese officials to ease tensions, not settle border disputes. They hoped that the meeting would happen “maybe early next month.”
Tuesday in Manila, Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo told the Senate that his country is ready to work with China to create “confidence-building measures” to ease tensions in the South China Sea.
Manalo told the Philippines media that the countries met as a working group last week to get ready for a possible Bilateral Consultation Mechanism meeting in July.
Romualdez said that if the Philippines couldn’t meet the needs of its troops, it would be the same as “killing our soldiers” by letting them go hungry and thirsty.
“I believe China doesn’t want a major fight.” And there’s no way we want to have one. “That’s a good place to start,” he said.
