Palace dismisses US general comment to lay off China

Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with Lt. Gen. Herbert J. Carlisle (left), 13th Air Force Commander of the United States Air Force at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 6, 2009. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday dismissed a US general’s statement that President Benigno Aquino III’s comments on China was provocative and “not helpful.”

“President Aquino simply called attention to the need for international solidarity in asserting the primacy of the rule of law to deter expansionism in WPS (West Philippine Sea),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a text message to media.

The Palace also said it did not consider the statements of General Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, US Air Forces commander in the Pacific, as representative of the views of US President Barrack Obama.

“It’s understandable for a military commander to adopt a viewpoint that’s different from a head of state’s perspective,” Coloma added.

Aquino, in an interview with The New York Times last week, compared the situation in the region to pre-World War II events.

“At what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough’? Well, the world has to say it — remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II,” he said.

He was referring to China’s assertion of its territorial claims.

Aquino said that amid surrendering Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia was still sieged by Germany.

But Carlisle said countries involved in the territorial disputes should defuse tensions.

“The rise of Germany and what occurred between the UK in particular and Germany, and what happened in Europe, I don’t draw that comparison at all to what’s going on today,” Carlisle told Bloomberg in a separate interview.

“Some of the things, in particular that have been done by Japan, they need to think hard about what is provocative to other nations,” he added.

It could be recalled that Xinhua writer Ming Jinwei blasted Aquino for his statement and compared him to “disgraced” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who also compared China to Germany in the run-up of World War I.

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