PH using ‘right as our might' vs. China, says AFP
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) likened the Philippines' strategy against China to a 'game of chess' in a recent press conference, and emphasized that the Philippines' rights in the West Philippine Sea are what it puts up against the might of China, a nuclear power.
On Tuesday, AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said that China's nuclear arsenal was a different playing field and that the Philippines was using its voice and the law to fight.
'The Philippines is playing somewhat like a strategic game. We're playing like a game of chess… We're using our voice to fight, and we're using the law. The arbitral ruling, UNCLOS, has already ruled in our favor, and thus this right as our might has shown its power. We cannot speculate on how others would fortify their defenses,' she said.
Padilla noted that the Philippines continues to modernize and strengthen its alliances in order to face off against China.
'If they are doing might versus right, we'll still continue on with using our right as our might,' she added.
Regarding the reports that China is expanding its nuclear arsenal, Philippine Navy spokesperson for West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad added that the Philippines had signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty of Nuclear Weapons in 1968.
'We are among the most freedom-loving and hospitable people in the world… We do not look at any country as a threat unless this country would commence illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions against us unless any country would start intruding into our maritime zones,' said Trinidad.
'The build-up of nuclear weapons by the members of the nuclear club has been there since post-World War II. So that is a dynamic, a reality that all countries in the world will have to face,' he said. — Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/BM, GMA Integrated News
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