By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
Contingency measures are in place in case of any untoward incident that might arise due to the “coercive and aggressive actions” of Chinese maritime forces in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), a ranking naval official said Tuesday.
“There are contingencies already in place for any eventuality that may arise due to the coercive and aggressive actions of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy, [China] Coast Guard, or the maritime militia,” Philippine Navy spokesperson for the WPS, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, said in a press briefing.
Trinidad was responding to a question on whether the military’s rules of engagement in WPS had already been updated to include the use of lethal force.
He said the death of a Filipino in WPS as a result of China’s aggressive actions would be the “red line,” as earlier stated by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the military’s commander-in-chief.
“Any death of a Filipino due to the coercive and aggressive actions of the CCG, the PLAN, and the Chinese maritime militia is a red line for the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines).”
Such an incident, Trinidad said, would also be grounds to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. “We are not here to provoke. We are not here to claim what is not ours. We are here merely to secure and to defend what is rightfully and legally ours.” (PNA)
