Palace: PHL ready to break diplomatic ties with China

The Philippines is ready to sever diplomatic relations with China should it be established that the sinking of a Filipino fishing boat as a result of a collision with a Chinese vessel at the disputed Recto Bank was done with intent, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the government adopts a calibrated response to the incident.

"We will cut off diplomatic relations, ‘yan ang unang ginagawa ‘pag mayroong mga aggressive acts. First, magdi-diplomatic protest ka; kung hindi ka kuntento sa paliwanag nila at nakita natin na talagang sinadya, eh ibang usapan iyon," Panelo said at a news conference.

"Our responses will always be calibrated, depende sa degree. But definitely, we will not allow ourselves to be assaulted, to be bullied, to be the subject of such barbaric, uncivilized and outrageous actions from any source."

The Philippines has already filed a diplomatic protest regarding the ship-ramming incident in the West Philippine Sea.

Panelo said the government may resort to "more severe" options in relation to the incident, citing President Rodrigo Duterte's actions on the Canada trash issue.

"Given the steps undertaken by the President on the Canada trash issue, that (diminishing of ties) is more likely," he said.

Duterte previously threatened to go to war with Canada if the North American country failed to retrieve tons of trash a Canada-based company had shipped to Manila years ago.

Manila even imposed a ban on government trips to Canada and recalled its ambassador and consuls to Ottawa in light of the long-simmering conflict over garbage. The Philippines only rolled back these measures after the trash was shipped back to Canada early this month.

Since he assumed the presidency in June 2016, Duterte has made friendly overtures to China and even confessed his “love” for Chinese President Xi Jinping during a press conference before leaving for China to attend the Boao Forum for Asia in April last year.

Xi later embarked on a historic state visit to the Philippines in November, which resulted in the signing of 29 agreements including the memorandum of understanding on cooperation on oil and gas development in the disputed South China Sea. 

Duterte’s decision to temporarily set aside the country's arbitration victory on the maritime dispute with China has led to a marked improvement in Manila’s economic and diplomatic relations with Beijing, but angered critics that accused him of kowtowing to China.

The President also insisted that he would not provoke the Asian power into war as this would only result in a massacre of government troops. —KBK, GMA News