Chinese envoy’s ‘posturing undiplomatic’

Senator Francis Pangilinan yesterday urged the government not to bow down to pressure from China, reacting to the Chinese ambassador’s Thursday statement.

“We should not be bullied by this undiplomatic posturing,” he said in a statement.

“The Philippines has a long history of freedom and popular uprisings against tyranny and the arrogance of power. We will never allow any superpower to bully us into submission,” Pangilinan said.

“China’s insistence that other nations must first seek its permission in moving about these disputed waters is high-handedness and arrogance that is unnecessary if indeed a peaceful resolution is what we all seek. They talk peace yet they do so with arrogance and high-handedness,” he said.

Two options

Muntinlupa Representative Rodolfo Biazon, chair of the House committee on national defense and security, said the Philippines has two options to resolve the Spratlys issue peacefully and avoid tensions from escalating—take the issue to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) or the United Nations (UN).

Biazon said the government could take up the issue at the Asean+1 accord where China has signed an agreement for closer cooperation with the region which includes a code of conduct; or raise the case at the United Nation which oversees the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“These mechanisms should be pursued instead of agreeing to proposals to strengthen the Philippine military which would only provoke China into making more hostile intrusions in the area,” he said in a radio interview yesterday.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the Asean and the UN should already come in to stave off the escalation of the diplomatic row between the Philippines and a fellow Asean member, Vietnam, against China.

“Stinging verbal attacks and counterattacks should be avoided by all parties. I think a declaration of a media ceasefire is necessary to prevent a conflagration,” said Evardone in a text message.