Duterte downplays China militarization

President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed confidence that China would not use its military facilities in the South China Sea against the Philippines.

In a speech delivered at the Manila Hotel Monday, Duterte said he believed these facilities are intended to chase away those that China considers its adversaries, including the United States.

“China is building structures and military bases, I must admit it. But is it intended for us? You must be joking. It’s not intended for us,” Duterte said during the 20th founding anniversary cel- ebration of the Chinese Filipino Business Club Inc.

“The contending ideological powers of the world to the geopolitics has greatly changed. It is intended against those who the Chinese think would destroy them, and that is America,” he added.

Duterte said all he could do for now is seek “friendly and civilized” relations with China.

He said it would be “unrealistic” and “untrue” for him to order the Philippine troops to guard the contested waters.

“I’d tell you, we will insist but what would be the components of our demands and our insistence? Well, we can only be diplomatic. We can only be talking on friendly and civilized terms. We cannot go there, ride (or deploy the) Navy, the gray ships, the Coast Guard, and start waving our rifles. We cannot do that today. It is unrealistic. It cannot be true,” Duterte said.

“Why would I go there,bring my navy, my soldiers, my police and everything only to be slaughtered? I will not commit the lives of the Filipinos only to die unnecessarily. I will not go into a battle, which I can never win,” he added.

China has continued militarizing its artificial islands despite a ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12,2016, which rejected Beijing’s extensive claim to the South China Sea.

The ruling stemmed from a petition filed by the Philippines, which has also claimed ownership of the disputed waters. / SUNSTAR PHILIPPINES