Marcos: China's plan to detain SCS 'trespassers' an escalation of tension

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei - President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. said Wednesday the plan of China to arrest foreigners trespassing in the South China Sea is an escalation of the tension in the region. 

''The new policy of threatening to detain our own citizens, that is different. That is an escalation of the situation,'' Marcos said during the Kapihan Sa Media. 

China has reportedly issued a regulation empowering its coast guard to detain trespassers in the South China Sea without trial. The directive was issued following the Philippine civilian mission to the WPS.

According to a South China Morning Post report last week, citing a regulatory document of Beijing set to take effect in June, the China Coast Guard (CCG) can hold foreigners suspected of illegally passing China's borders for up to 60 days.

In the same interview, Marcos was asked if there are any meetings or backchannel efforts to resolve or at least forge some sort of middle ground with Asian China. 

''Yes, of course, there are. I’ve said it many times. You should try everything. You don’t know what effort is going to be successful. So, as any point of contact that I can establish I will use it, and at every level, at the leaders' level, at the ministerial, sub-ministerial, private as long as it gives us, brings us progress in terms of resolving these --- and you know, first of all to --- number one, to stop the aggressive actions such as water-cannoning and lasers and barrier putting et cetera,'' he explained.

''And secondly, allowing our fishermen to fish. Let’s start with that. And if we can get to that, then we can move to the next step and to see if there’s a way to resolve all these claims and so that we can all go about our business in a peaceful way and continue to try and develop our countries,'' he added. 

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled that China's claims over the South China Sea have no legal basis, a decision that Beijing does not recognize

—AOL/ VAL, GMA Integrated News