President Ferdinand Marcos said on Thursday his government would withdraw a US missile system from Philippine territory if Beijing stops its “aggressive and coercive behaviour” in the disputed South China Sea and stops claiming Philippine territory.
The US military deployed the Typhon missile system in the northern Philippines last year as part of an annual joint exercise, and Philippine troops have been training with it, with plans to acquire the system as a means of defending Manila’s maritime interests.
The presence of the US medium-range weapon system on Philippine territory angered China, which warned that Manila was “inciting geopolitical confrontation and arms race” in the region.
Marcos told reporters Thursday during a visit to the central city of Cebu:
“I don’t understand the comments on the Typhon missiles. We don’t make any comments on their missile systems, and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have. Let’s make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water-cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior.”
China and ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, are engaged in a territorial dispute over the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea. The US is allied with some regional powers and supports their position in disputes with China. At the same time, $5 trillion worth of cargo is transported annually through the resource-rich South China Sea, whose different zones are disputed by several states.
China has been building military fortifications and artificial islands in the region since 2013. The creation of the latter has allowed Beijing to claim economic zones within 200 nautical miles of each of them.
Beijing officially proclaimed its rights to the Spratly archipelago, at the same time sending warships there in 2014.
The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague at the suit of the Philippines ruled that the claims of China on the water areas in the South China Sea are groundless in 2016. However, Beijing did not recognise the jurisdiction of the Hague Court.
