The national government should file another petition against China before the United Nations (UN) over the latter’s recent “harassment” in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), a ranking Philippine Navy (PN) official said on Sunday, July 14.

Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, PN spokesperson for WPS, said that a new arbitration case before the UN would be “better” for the Philippines instead of having diplomatic talks with China.

“There were calls from certain government personalities that we should file a new petition before the United Nations due to the continuous harassment by the Chinese Communist Party. China was saying that we should not file anything and let’s just talk. If it’s up to me, we should file because it clearly shows that they are afraid. They’ll get embarrassed again,” Trinidad said in a radio interview over dzBB.

According to Trinidad, engaging the Philippines in a “never-ending” talk over the territorial dispute in the WPS is just part of China’s strategy, likening it with the penchant for peace talks by insurgents from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“That [engaging in long talks] is in the books of the communists to prolong the fight. Look at our insurgency campaign, it has been ongoing for around six decades already and we have embarked on multiple peace talks. For them, peace is there to support their war effort, to prolong the war efforts but it will lead to nothing,” he said.

Just last July 12, the Philippines marked the eighth anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) 2016 ruling. The landmark award mainly ruled in favor of the Philippines and invalidated China's dash-line claims in the South China Sea.

Recent calls for the filing of another arbitration case against China before the UN surfaced anew due to China’s recent activities in the WPS including aggressive actions during resupply missions, destruction of certain features due to the crushing of corals reefs, and suspected reclamation activities.

China has also deployed some of its most powerful warships in the Philippines’ territorial sea over the past weeks. Its “monster” ship, a China Coast Guard vessel, was anchored near Escoda (Sabina) Shoal while the Shandong carrier strike group was spotted operating in the Philippine Sea.

But Trinidad said the public should not be worried about this apparent display of force by China since it was all “empty” intimidation tactic.

“We know that in their doctrine, it states that you should project yourself as weak if you are strong and you should project yourself as strong when you are weak. What their doing with the deployment of their Shandong carrier strike group, they want to create noise and they want to present themselves as strong. In reality, it would take them decades to perfect their naval warfare in using their aircraft carriers,” the navy admiral said.

Trinidad said the aircraft carriers of China are not yet “battle-tested” so it is not considered a threat to the country.

“Although they are more advance than us, it would be long before they reach the operational level of their aircraft carriers,” he noted.

On the part of the PN, Trinidad said that the Department of National Defense (DND) has been in serious discussion to modernize the navy and improve its undersea warfare which includes the procurement of submarine.

“Submarine is an important component of undersea warfare and the procurement of one is being thoroughly discussed at the level of the DND,” he said.