A top security official stated on Wednesday ( Apr 3 ) that the Philippines is prepared to respond to China’s attempts to disrupt its supply missions in the South China Sea and safeguard its troops stationed in the waterway.
The Philippines is committed to keeping its place at the Second Thomas Shoal, according to Jonathan Malaya, the spokesperson for the National Security Council. Resupply operations to Filipino troops on a grounded ship there will continue without a hitch.
” The Philippines will always be committed to keeping BRP Sierra Madre operational, so any attempt by China to obstruct supplies missions will be handled in a way that protects our troops,” Malaya said at a sea forum.
Malaya once more reaffirmed that the actions taken by the Philippines ‘ president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week to stop China’s navy from “aggressive” activities will be “multi-dimensional” and not just military in nature.
Piece of these methods includes making” shifts and adjustments” to Philippine resupply operations and functions in the South China Sea, Malaya said without elaborating, citing security concerns.
Malaya reacted to the Spanish defense minister’s earlier warning that “foreign malicious influence” meant to stifle the country by urging the populace to refrain from engaging in Chinese propaganda.
There are certainly Chinese narratives that go against the truth, according to Malaya, and we have seen that they are working around through their surrogates or, if we might say, amplifiers.
A number of maritime run-ins between the Philippines and China, including cooked verbal exchanges and water cannons, have raised concerns about an escalation at sea.
China claims about the whole South China Sea as its place, policed by an armada of navy arteries, some more than 1, 000km from its island. China has maintained that its actions in response to the invasion by the Philippines were acceptable.