(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated the country will deal with China only through diplomacy.
He said before Chinese-Filipino businessmen on Monday, February 19, during an anniversary celebration of the Chinese Filipino Business Club, Inc. (CFBCI) at the Manila Hotel that the country will insist on its sovereign rights over its claims in the West Philippine Sea but in “friendly and civilized terms.”
“We cannot go there ride in our, whatever, navy, grey ships, the coastguard and start waving our rifles. We cannot do that today. It is unrealistic, it cannot be true..Then why would I go there, bringing my navy, my soldiers, my police and everything only to be slaughtered. I will not commit the lives of the Filipinos only to die unnecessarily. I will not go into a battle which I can never win,” he said.
Rapping the critics who question his approach with China, Duterte asked: “What were they doing during their time? Why did they not start to build things there, structures that China is doing now?”
“Even in the claim itself and in the development of the claim, wala tayong ginawa,” he said.
He said that while China was building structures and military bases in the disputed sea “(they are) not intended for us.”
He said they were “really intended against those (whom) the Chinese think would destroy them, and that is America.”
In fact, Duterte said that Chinese President Xi Jinping himself has promised not to build anything in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal.
“Ganun na lang ang respeto ko kay Xi Jin Ping. Sabi nila they will not build. They assured that….Si Xi Jinping mismo nagsabi, and he is a man of honor,” he said.
As for China’s naming of features in the Philippine Rise, Duterte said that the move was understandable.
“Eh alangan namang gawing German? Ang alam nila Chinese eh. Those are just directions na tapos na sila dyan. Of course, they will do it in Chinese, it’s their dialect,” he said.
He said what matters was that the “Philippine Rise is ours.”
“Huwag mong galawin. I will insist,” he said.