Philippines not appeasing China, says Locsin

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday denied that appeasing China is part of the country's foreign policy under the Duterte administration, citing instances showing the opposite.

"Appeasement? No. In fact, you are looking at the opposite of appeasement," Locsin said in an interview on ANC.

"Every transgression, incursion, and even suspicion of Chinese activity, it is immediately reported to me by [National Security Adviser Hermogenes] Esperon, and we fire a diplomatic note, every single time, without fail," he added.

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio last week said the Duterte administration's appeasement of China has prevented the country from protecting its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea despite its 2016 victory in a case filed before the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

Locsin said he is "grateful" to Carpio and the Aquino administration for suing China and winning the case "because the law is on our side."

"They sued China as they should, and all we have is the law. We do not have power," he said.

The PCA ruling invalidates China's nine-dash line claim of the entire South China Sea and declares the Spratly Islands, Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank as all within the Philippines' exclusive economiz zone. It also outlaws China's action of preventing  Filipino fishermen to access Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal which it deems as a traditional fishing ground for both countries.

China refused to honor the ruling.

Locsin said President Rodrigo Duterte had brought up the Hague ruling with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and that it was not well received. "The reception was very cold," he said.

Locsin said if China escalates its action such as establishing an air defense system in Scarborough shoal, he will not think twice in holding China accountable.

"I would appear in the United Nations and blast China," he said.

"We will fire a protest again and again and assert what we won in the Hague tribunal," the DFA chief added.

Asked on exactly how many diplomatic protests have so far been lodged against China by the Philippines since the Duterte administration assumed power in July 2016, Locsin could not say. --KBK, GMA News