Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Friday the Philippines should formally protest China’s reported new policy on patrolling the South China Sea as security experts viewed as a serious concern China’s threat to board and expel vessels that enter areas it claims to be part of its territory. “That’s not a good statement from China. We will just have to see what we can do to avoid this situation where they will be boarding our ships. Maybe at this point we need to file right away a protest. Let’s do the diplomatic and legal action on this,” Gazmin told reporters following the rites commemorating the 149th birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio at the Philippine Army’s headquarters at Fort Bonifacio. Defense spokesperson Peter Paul Galvez said Gazmin’s recommendation would be “the action once (the new border patrol rule) is made official” by a statement from the Chinese government itself.
On Thursday, China’s state-run media
reported that China will allow its police in the southern Chinese province of
Hainan to board, seize control, or expel foreign ships that “illegally enter”
Chinese waters. The reports said the new rule would take
effect on Jan. 1.
As of late Friday afternoon, Galvez said
the Department of National Defense continued to “gather more information”
regarding China’s reported new border patrol rule. “We are waiting for an official statement
from the Chinese government. That will be something that the Department of
Foreign Affairs (DFA) will clarify,” Galvez said......
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