Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque should “lay off” foreign affairs since he is not competent in the field, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Monday.
In a tweet, Locsin expressed his concern over Roque’s statement on how the government should respond to China’s recent passage of a law allowing its coast guard to shoot foreign vessels intruding in its “jurisdictional waters.”
Roque told reporters in an online briefing that the Philippines can take China anew to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to challenge its new Coast Guard law.
“I am not listening to Harry Roque. Love the guy but he’s not competent in this field. We do not go back to The Hague. We might lose what we won. Harry, lay off,” the Locsin said in a tweet typed mostly in all caps to emphasize his point.
Last week, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against China’s latest provocative legislation. Locsin earlier said the law could be seen as a “verbal threat of war” to countries who defy it and has overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.
On July 12, 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippine petition to invalidate China’s expansive nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Manila defended Beijing’s passage of the Coast Guard law, saying it is not unique to China, “but a sovereign right to all.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook account, the Embassy said the new law does not specifically target any particular country nor would indicate any change in China’s maritime policy.
The Chinese Embassy blamed “some forces in the Philippines” who allegedly misinterpreted, either for their own political interests or out of prejudice, China’s “normal” legislation.
“China has always been committed to managing differences with countries including the Philippines through dialogue and consultations and upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it added.