Gibo: Philippines not provoking Chinese in WPS

MANILA, Philippines — It is China that is provoking the Philippines into resisting Beijing’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said yesterday.

Teodoro was reacting to the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman’s claim that the Philippines is provoking Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

During the Department of National Defense (DND)’s budget briefing at the Senate, Teodoro said the Philippines would continue its whole-of-government approach in peacefully settling disputes while asserting the country’s sovereign claims over waters within its exclusive economic zone.

“We are not the one provoking them. We are just reacting to their actions. They are the ones provoking us,” he said in Filipino during the hearing.

Teodoro was citing the China Coast Guard’s illegal installation of a 300-meter floating barrier near Panatag or Scarborough Shoal off Zambales supposedly to block Filipino fisherfolk from going to their traditional fishing grounds.

“They are the ones blocking our fishermen. They are the ones putting the barrier in Scarborough Shoal. But that is ours under international law,” he said.

He was reacting to a statement by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, who hit back at the Philippines for removing the floating barrier that blocked access to Filipino fisherfolk.

“That’s what the Philippines tells itself… We call on the Philippines not to make provocation or stir up trouble,” Wang said at his regular press briefing last Tuesday.

“Is that provocation for them?” Teodoro said in Filipino during an ambush interview before the budget hearing yesterday. “What is the more provocative action – the installation of a floating barrier, or the removal of an illegal