Gazmin calls on superpowers to stand up to China

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 16): Gazmin calls on superpowers to stand up to China



This undated photo handout released by the Kayalaan Municipal office on July 13, 2011 shows the island of Kalayaan, which means “Freedom” in the Filipino language, that was created in 1978 mainly to assert the Philippines’ claim to the disputed territory in the Spratlys, a chain of islets in the South China Sea. For the few dozen Filipinos living on a remote speck of land in the South China Sea, each day is a battle against loneliness but also a love affair with nature. Contact with the outside world is limited and comforts are few for the residents of “Freedom” town, which exists mainly to raise the Philippine flag and fend off the other claimants to the Spratly islands. AFP FILE PHOTO/ Kayalaan Municipal office

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Thursday said that China has been harassing countries with smaller military power in their aggressive operations in the West Philippine Sea and called on superpower nations to defend weaker nations.

Recently, China imposed fishing laws that extended to the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone saying that Beijing’s nine-dash line would overlap the economic restrictions that the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea set for the country.

“China is projecting itself as a superpower; they have been very aggressive lately,” Gazmin said in the 23rd anniversary of the Special Operations Command in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

Gazmin said that superpowers should be the one to say to China that their actions are uncalled for.

“There should be a superpower that should stand up to China,” Gazmin said.

Recently United States legislators reacted to China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea that worried both Republicans and Democrats.

American lawmakers feel that the Chinese actions could lead to territorial disputes since the US has bilateral defense treaties with Japan and the Philippines.

Gazmin added that despite the glaring difference in military power, the country’s armed forces can still secure the safety of the fishermen going to the fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea.

“We are not following the rules of China in our own territory, why are we going to follow them if we fish in our own seas,” Gazmin said.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/96905/gazmin-calls-on-superpowers-to-stand-up-to-china