Incidents in PH’s EEZ to show MDT value: Locsin

MANILA – Encounters or incidents that may arise involving Filipino vessels within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone would show the value of Manila’s 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with Washington DC, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Saturday.

The statement came after US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington is concerned with the enacted Chinese coast guard law, saying it “may escalate ongoing territorial and maritime disputes”.

“Well, we’re not reading it. We’ll just go about our Exclusive Economic Zone and territorial waters—fishing boats, Coast Guard, Navy boats—as we please until we run up against…whatever. Then we’ll know if Mutual Defense Treaty amounts to a hill o’beans, a cup of ’em or jackshit,” Locsin said in a tweet.

Price, in a press briefing on Saturday, said the US joins the Philippines and several other Asian nations in “expressing concern” with Beijing’s coast guard law.

“Language in that law, including text allowing the coast guard to destroy other countries’ economic structures and to use force in defending China’s maritime claims in disputed areas, strongly implies this law could be used to intimidate the PRC’s maritime neighbors,” he said.

Price said the US is “further concerned that China may invoke this new law to assert its unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea,” which were invalidated by the 2016 arbitral ruling.

Manila earlier said it “strongly opposed any application” of the Chinese measure beyond the limits of Beijing’s maritime entitlements stated under the international law, including the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) decision on the South China Sea.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila, on the other hand, said the law “will not take strong measures against any fishermen – before or after the formulation of the law” and will not specifically target any certain country.

Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Jose Santiago Sta. Romana recently noted the Chinese Foreign Ministry also reassured Manila that they will not resort to force in the first instance and that “they will still exercise restraint.”