{"id":210507,"date":"2019-04-18T06:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T10:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=210507"},"modified":"2019-04-18T06:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T10:02:45","slug":"duterte-urges-china-not-to-surround-pag-asa-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/18\/duterte-urges-china-not-to-surround-pag-asa-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte urges China not to ‘surround’ Pag-asa Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Duterte. (PNA file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday asked China to stop surrounding Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), warning that just one harmed soldier could \u201cprecipitate trouble there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte, in a PDP-Laban campaign rally in Batangas, made this statement after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) bared that a rise in the number of Chinese fishing vessels have been discovered near the Philippine-occupied island since January this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIyong<\/em>\u00a0Pag-asa Island,\u00a0sinabi ko, huwag ninyong i<\/em>-surround\u00a0kasi may mga sundalo ako diyan<\/em>\u00a0(I said, don\u2019t surround Pag-asa Island because I have soldiers there),\u201d Duterte said in his speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cNag<\/em>-warning\u00a0lang ako. Hindi ko tinatakot ang<\/em>\u00a0China (I just warned them. I didn\u2019t threaten China). But it could precipitate trouble there. ‘Pag namatayan ako ng sundalo maski isa, ah gulo na ‘yan<\/em>\u00a0(If I lose even just one soldier there, there would be trouble),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also appealed to China to allow Filipino fishermen to fish in the disputed waters and not to drive them away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there will be a time,\u00a0at sabihin ko sa<\/em>\u00a0China\u00a0ngayon<\/em>\u00a0(and I will tell China now) that they should also meet halfway.\u00a0Kagaya ng mga mangingisda natin, tapos ‘yang palibutan nila ‘yang<\/em>\u00a0Pag-asa (To consider our fishermen, and their actions surrounding Pag-asa Island),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The President said waging a war with China is unwise, since he doubted that other nations, including the US, would be willing to take part in the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cPero ngayon, magsabi ka,<\/em>\u00a0\u2018mag-fight\u00a0ako sa<\/em>\u00a0China,\u2019 (But now, if you say, \u2018I will fight China\u2019) okay, who will come? Who will?\u00a0Sino? Magbigay ka ng limang magtulong sa atin<\/em>\u00a0(Name at least five countries that will help us),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica?\u00a0Mag<\/em>-suicide\u00a0kaya ang<\/em>\u00a0America\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0nuclear war\u00a0para sa atin<\/em>\u00a0(Would America risk a suicide and wage a nuclear war for us)? Would America risk a Third World war just to defend?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the best solution to conflict between the Philippines and China is through negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain I will repeat: the best way is still negotiation. Negotiation is the best avenue by which we can solve any conflict in any area in the South China Sea,\u201d Panelo said in a recent TV interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, we will be forced at the risk of an armed conflict, even if minimal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also insisted that the Duterte administration has never \u201cshelved\u201d the arbitral ruling won by the Philippines against China at The Hague.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday asked China to stop surrounding Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea (South …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":210508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210509,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210507\/revisions\/210509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}