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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Locsin cites 1951 MDT: 'Attack on state-owned vessel, an attack on the US'

Locsin cites 1951 MDT: 'Attack on state-owned vessel, an attack on the US'

Published Mar 24, 2021 06:29 pm

The Philippines may not have the military power to fight back and inflict a bloody nose on China but it could fall back on US support in case of a Philippine-owned vessel, however small, is attacked.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

Basis of a US support is anchored on the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) as explained by former US Department of State Secretary Mike Pompeyo and his successor, Antony Blinken, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. told the Commission on Appointments (CA) before it confirmed the appointments of 51 career officials.

From the reported presence last March 7 of 220 Chinese ‘’militia’’ ships in Julian Felipe reef located within the West Philippine Sea (WPS), AFP Chief of Staff Cirilito Sobejana Jr. told the CA that he instructed the Philippine Navy to check the report and reported back and that the number of Chinese fleet formed like phalanx has been reduced to 183.

‘’But it is not how strong we are but how right we are and along with international laws, like an (UN Arbitration Court) Arbitration award, is we may have the military means to give a bloody nose…we do  have an MDT as explained by Secretary Pompeyo and Secretary (Antony) Blinken,’’ Locsin said.

Based on the MDT, ‘’any attack on a Philippine vessel, however small, as long as it is a government vessel, is an attack on the US, triggering the MDT (and) that response is global,’’ Locsin added.

‘’We must have the courage to go where probably we cannot not go back from. If we don’t send that message to the other side, then they will keep on trenching and trenching and trenching and then our sense of nationhood dies,’’ he added.

While diplomacy is the art of the possible, ‘’it cannot be just that,’’ he pointed out.

In so far as the AFP is concerned, Sobejana said that he has directed the Philippine Navy to deploy its assets and ‘’increase our visibility there.’’

’’We do not tolerate incursions from anybody, We stand by our mandate,’’ he added.

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