President Rodrigo Duterte FILE PHOTO / AP
President Duterte on Thursday said there was no use questioning why he had allowed China to land planes and install missiles on artificial islands claimed by the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Explaining his administration鈥檚 stand not to 鈥済o to war鈥� with China, President Duterte told reporters he would discuss with them geopolitical realities and 鈥渨hy I allow things just to stay鈥� on the contested reefs.
He was asked what he thought of reports that China had landed military transports and fighters in the Philippine-claimed reefs in the Spratlys.
鈥榃hy fight with them鈥�
鈥淭here is an airport. There are missiles there installed. There are military equipment already in place. So what鈥檚 the point of questioning whether the [Chinese] planes there land or not? There鈥檚 an airstrip. They would not land on rocks. They have a good airstrip,鈥� the President told reporters.
鈥淵ou cannot let them leave. Why fight with them?鈥� he said.
To critics who wanted him to 鈥済o to war with China,鈥� he told them to go to the disputed areas. He said he was 100 percent sure that the country would lose any battle with China.
鈥淲e will declare war against China, provided that those noisy should go first. I will be there behind them. But when we get there, I will leave them behind. It鈥檚 up to them. They are the ones who want to fight,鈥� the President said.
But Malaca帽ang insisted that the Philippines had not kept mum on China鈥檚 military buildup in the West Philippine Sea 鈥� the part of the of South China Sea within the country鈥檚 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
Bilateral meeting
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines already expressed concern over China鈥檚 recent activities in the disputed waters in a bilateral meeting held earlier this year.
Quoting Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Roque said the Philippines made use of the bilateral communication mechanism on the South China Sea to convey its take on recent developments.
鈥淭hey talked about problems in the South China Sea. They discussed the installations of arms and airports in those islands. These were tackled in the bilateral meeting,鈥� he said.
Asked if the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest or used the bilateral meeting to air its concerns, Roque said in a text message: 鈥淚t was tackled and protests were filed. Both.鈥�