DFA to China exec: PH independent, actions driven by nat’l interest

FILE: The Department of Foreign Affairs Building along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, which used to be the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank. (Photo By Lawrence Ruiz, CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday dismissed Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s remarks that incidents in the South China Sea (SCS) are “staged under the direction of other countries.”

China should recognize that the Philippines is an independent and sovereign state whose actions and decisions are driven entirely by national interest and the interests and well-being of the Filipino people, the DFA said in a statement.

China previously compared the SCS dispute with the Philippines to a “shadow play” and warned that “those acting as others’ chess pieces are bound to be discarded.

”

Wang said there is a screenplay written by external forces for every move of the Philippines on the sea, adding that the show is livestreamed by Western media and the plot is invariably to smear China.

“No creative analogy or play of words will mask the real issue, which is China’s refusal to abide by international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the 2016 Arbitral Award, and the adverse effects of China’s disregard for the rules-based international order on Filipino communities genuinely affected by China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive behavior at sea,” the DFA said.

The agency called on countries to be circumspect and to avoid actions and words that only contribute to tensions in the region.