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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PBBM should bring up West PH Sea issue in Beijing visit—Tolentino

PBBM should bring up West PH Sea issue in Beijing visit—Tolentino

Published Dec 20, 2022 02:59 pm

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. should bring up the country’s diplomatic protest against the repeated aggression of the Chinese Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea when he visits Beijing next month.

Sen. Francis Tolentino made the suggestion as he renewed his call for freedom of navigation in the country’s maritime territories in the WPS.

“One, the diplomatic pressure should be pursued in Beijing when the President (visits)...We don’t want to jump the gun on the President, he’s the chief architect of our foreign policy,” Tolentino said in an interview on ANC Headstart.

The Office of the Press Secretary earlier announced that Marcos has accepted the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit on January 3 to 6, 2023.

According to the OPS, the Chinese government has since confirmed Marcos’ schedule for the state visit.

Several senators have condemned China’s alleged bullying of Filipino fisherfolk in the WPS.

Before the Senate took a holiday recess last week, Tolentino delivered a privilege speech to discuss the situation in the area particularly the incident where the China Coast Guard forcefully retrieved Chinese rocket debris from Filipino fishers inside the Philippine’s jurisdiction.

Tolentino said several measures can be done to prevent the incident from happening again, one is to put diplomatic pressure and two, to increase the Philippine Coast Guard’s presence in the area.

At the same time, Tolentino said the Philippine government can use is renewed ties with the United States to beef up security in the WPS.

The senator was referring to the PCG and the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG) joint search and rescue exercise (SAREX) which was held in August supposedly to enhance the interoperability of Philippine and US forces in case of maritime accidents.

“What we did during the middle part of this year is correct. There was, for the first time, a joint coastguard exercise somewhere in Manila. It has to be pursued for rescue, anti-terrorism activities, etc.” Tolentino said.

“It can be done even in the WPS area. With all of these, it would highlight the area as being utilized, not just by our own Coast Guard, but other friendly coast guards as well,” the senator stressed.

Related Tags

state visit west ph sea Beijing Francis Tolentino PBBM china
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