Lorenzana: China’s weapons escalating tensions in South China Sea

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that China’s reported deployment of weapons in the South China Sea in recent weeks has escalated tensions in the contested waters.

In an interview with Channel News Asia on June 1, which was aired last week, the defense chief finally spoke of China’s installation of weapons in the artificial islands it has built in the Spratlys.

READ: China deploys missiles on 3 PH-claimed reefs

“I think all claimants have to do is to come together and then talk about de-escalating the issues,” he said. “But what’s happening there is China starts to militarize, put those defensive weapons in those claimed islands, but they are not actually islands, they were reefs before which were reclaimed, and I think they are just escalating the tensions some more.”

The US-based TV network CNBC reported in early May that China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air-missile systems on three of its biggest artificial islands in the Spratlys, which were close to the Philippines.

A month earlier, there were reports that China deployed military jamming equipment in two of its biggest outposts in the Spratlys. These developments have alarmed several nations.

“Maybe they believe that they are now in the situation where they can also dictate some of the terms in the region and that’s what’s happening,” Lorenzana said.

‘Not benign’

China insists that its “peaceful construction activities” in the contested waters is merely for defense purposes and is not targeted at anyone. Lorenzana said he is “unconvinced.”

“So far the actions belie those claims of being benign,” he said.

The defense chief also accused China of initiating tensions in the region.

“When the US left the bases in 1992, 1993, they started inching closer to the West Philippine Sea. I think we’re not escalating the tensions because it was not a problem before. They just came in and said, ‘This is [a] nine-dash line. This is ours,’” Lorenzana said.

“On what basis? Historical basis? But it was debunked by the arbitral ruling,” he continued.

READ: Philippines wins arbitration case vs. China over South China Sea

Lorenzana also revealed that the previous administration elevated the case to the international court because they refused to accept China’s nine-dash line claims.

“I think the Chinese said that we have escalated the issue by bringing it [the case] to the international court because of the unreasonable demands of the Chinese to come to the table,” he added.

“They want us to recognize their ownership first over the area before we can go to the table, but we can’t do that because we have one document then before we went to the arbitration court, the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), and they are a signatory to that. That gives us 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone,” he said.

Even before the standoff in Scarborough Shoal in 2012, which has allowed China to control the area since then, Lorenzana said they have been doing military drills close to the area.

“When the US [was] still in Clark and Subic, the Scarborough zone has been the target practice area for the US Navy for the longest time,” he said.

Lorenzana’s statements were in contrast to what he said in the interview with reporters at Camp Aguinaldo last June 11 that the previous administration ‘mismanaged’ the West Philippine Sea dispute.

READ: Past admin ‘mismanaged’ West PH Sea dispute — Lorenzana

The defense chief, seen by many as one of the better men of the current administration, drew flak for his statements.

But former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario said Lorenzana may have been used only as a “government propaganda tool” because “he has the reputation of being straight as an arrow.”

READ: We defended what is ours, insists Del Rosario 

‘No shooting war between US and China’

Lorenzana also said he believes that despite the increasing regional tension, the United States and China will not wage war against each other in the South China Sea.

“China and [the] the US will never go into a shooting war…They know the consequences…Their economies are strong, why would they destroy it by shooting at each other?” he said.

But should there be war, he said the Philippines will be a battleground, and this could kill a million Filipinos.

“We don’t what our country to be again the battleground like what happened in World War II. There was a quarrel between Japan and US in our country and we were never even part of the conflict, we were just a battleground and it killed a million Filipinos,” he argued.

Asked if the Philippines should take sides in the US-China conflict, Lorenzana said: “I don’t think we have to choose. We could be friends with both.” /ee