Marcos: Growing tensions in West PH Sea require PH-US partnership

HONOLULU, Hawaii -President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday (PH time) underscored that the growing tension in the West Philippine Sea has required a partnership with the United States.

The said partnership will maintain peace in the resource-rich region, according to Marcos.

"The United States is our, I would say, our oldest and most traditional partner and that has been in various forms, ongoing over a hundred years. And I think, it serves as well to remember that the United States is the Philippines' only treaty partner," Marcos said during the roundtable meeting at the Daniel L. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.

"The heightening tension in the West Philippine Sea, as we have named it, — it is generally known as the South China Sea — the increasing tensions in the South China Sea requires that we partner with our allies and our friends around the world, so as to come to some kind of resolution and to maintain the peace," he added.

Not an inch

Marcos also maintained that the Philippines would never give an inch of its territory to any foreign power. 

"I have said it before and I will say it again, the Philippines will not give a single square inch of our territory [to] any foreign power," Marcos said.

"The law is clear as defined by the UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 award on the South China Sea arbitration," he added.

UNCLOS is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is considered the constitution of the seas.

Marcos made the remark amid the growing tensions in the West Philippine Sea and came after visiting the Indo-Pacific Command. 

Meanwhile, Marcos said the areas which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has started to show interest in have become nearer.

"The nearest reefs that the PLA have started to show interest in, in terms of slowly using these atolls, these shoals, as a basis for building. They have come closer and closer to the Philippine coastline and the nearest one is now around 60 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine coast," Marcos said, adding that this is an evolving situation.

The Philippine government has filed several diplomatic protests against China over Beijing's hostile actions in the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese government refuses to recognize the arbitral ruling that invalidates its massive claim in the area.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently called on China to remove illegal structures, cease reclamations and be accountable for environmental damage in the West Philippine Sea.

The DFA stated that regular resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal, which is located within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea, are legitimate activities. 

It stressed that the Philippines does not need to give prior notification to China before conducting such mission. —KBK/KG, GMA Integrated News