“We are trying to keep the situation stable,” Marcos said Tuesday in an interview on the presidential palace in Manila. The challenge, he added, is that “because the threat has increased, we must do more to defend our territory.”
“We did not start any conflict. We did not incite any confrontation,” Marcos, 66, said of his government’s policy. “We just want to feed our people.”
But he added: “China has taken very aggressive actions against our coast guard.”
China has set its border on the Gulf of Tonkin. Will the South China Sea be next?
China has set its border on the Gulf of Tonkin. Will the South China Sea be next?
The interview with Marcos took place on the identical day that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Manila. Before his meeting with Marcos, Blinken criticized what he called Beijing’s “provocative” actions.
Despite the impasse, Marcos stressed that he was continuing talks with Beijing and didn’t want to seek out himself within the position of invoking the mutual defense treaty the Philippines has had with the US for a long time.
Asked what might provoke him to make use of this defense agreement, Marcos said the Philippines would face an “existential threat.”
“I hope there will never come a time when we have to answer that question,” he said. “When you talk about a mutual defense treaty and you refer to an actual, even brutal conflict, that is a very, very dangerous, very, very slippery slope to travel.”
White House says Trump’s call for Russia to invade NATO members is ‘nonsense’.
White House says Trump’s call for Russia to invade NATO members is ‘nonsense’.
“As long as we remain faithful to the agreements contained within the treaties, I believe that foreign policy will remain balanced and there will likely be no radical changes, no radical moves.”
