‘End sea harassment, I’ll return Typhon’

MANILA, Philippines — Visibly irked by China’s remark that the Philippines should pull out the US Typhon missile launchers, President Marcos yesterday said he would heed the call if Beijing stops claiming Manila’s territory and engaging in aggressive behavior.

Last week, China asked the Philippines to “quickly” pull out the Typhon missile launchers following a report that the US had transferred the missile system from Laoag to an undisclosed area in Luzon.

The Tomahawk cruise missiles in the launchers can hit targets in both China and Russia from the Philippines, according to Reuters.

Reacting to the report, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged the Philippines to correct the “wrongdoing” and pull out the US-made mid-range capability missile system.

She claimed that the deployment of the missile launchers was a “highly dangerous move and an extremely irresponsible choice” for the people of the Philippines, Southeast Asian countries and regional security.

In a media interview in Cebu yesterday, Marcos said he does not understand China’s statements, noting that the Philippines does not make any comment on China’s missile systems that are “a thousand times more powerful.”

“So I don’t understand. Let’s make a deal with China: stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior, and we’ll return the typhoon missiles,” the President said.
In an earlier interview, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla said no entity could dictate how the Philippines would undertake defense deployments. She added that the missile launchers were deployed for training.

China claims practically the entire South China Sea — a strategic sea lane where over $5 trillion in shipments passes through every year — while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims.

In 2016, a Hague-based arbitral court invalidated China’s maritime claim and affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its exclusive economic zone. China has refused to recognize the landmark