Monitoring Desk
MANILA: The Philippines accused China on Friday of destabilizing peace in the South China Sea and moved to increase the presence of its forces in the region amid mounting tensions.
China claims the strategically important South China Sea almost in its entirety, and its military presence in the disputed maritime territory has been increasing. China’s military is infringing on the Philippine part of the maritime, the West Philippine Sea.
Earlier, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned the Chinese ambassador to Manila after a Chinese vessel used a military-grade laser to block a coast guard ship.
The incident took place days after the Philippines granted the United States (US) expanded access to its military bases, providing American forces with a strategic footing as tensions grew not only over the disputed South China Sea territory but also self-ruled Taiwan.
Philippines asks China to avoid destabilizing regional peace
The Philippine Foreign Affairs department called on China to restrain its damaging and dangerous activity.
The Philippine Coast Guard has increased its forces in the South China Sea to strengthen and increase the Philippine Coast Guard’s operations and presence” in the region.
During a news conference on Friday, Huang Xilian, China’s envoy to Manila, said there was a “lack of communication.”
“I think both sides should exercise restraint and refrain from taking unilateral and provocative actions. By the end of the day, you know that water is a disputed area. We have a different account of what happened and also a different understanding,” he said
Tensions have been rising despite Marcos’ state visit to Beijing last month. He agreed with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to establish an inter-government hotline on maritime issues.
“We activated communication between two coastguards, and we are also exploring some new mechanisms,” Huang said.
“With the many instances that have happened, we believe that we need to resolve these through ‘friendly consultations’ not to have the issue hyped up and escalate to such a situation.”
