Duterte wants China to help fight piracy

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he may call on China to help secure “high seas” in Southeast Asia from pirates and terrorists.

In his speech before leaving for India, Duterte said he might call on China to help guard the Sulu and Celebes Seas, a haven for kidnap-for-ransom terrorists who usually board ships and kidnap dozens of crewmen.

“Kunghindinatinkaya (if we can’t do it), we’ll just have to call China to come in and blow them off,” Duterte said.

The President said the Sulu and Celebes Seas, in the western and southern part of the Philippines, are lacking in security, allowing pirates and terrorists to freely pass through.

He praised China for being instrumental in helping Somalia catch pirates in their seas.

“Were it not for the presence of the Chinese, hindi mahinto ‘yung piracy doon (piracy won’t be stopped there),” Duterte said.

The President said the only solution to stop piracy and terrorism on Southeast Asia’s waters was a “hardline policy.”

“So we have to come up with a platform of how to deal with ter- rorism. I go for a hardline policy. Blow them up in the high seas. Sirain mo. Kanyunin mo (Destroy it. Use cannons). Otherwise, if we do not do the extreme measures, we’d always be at the mercy of criminals,” Duterte said. “If you have to kill, you kill. That’s the only way to destroy an enemy. It cannot be empty words.”