{"id":253395,"date":"2020-04-28T22:59:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T02:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253395"},"modified":"2020-04-28T22:59:54","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T02:59:54","slug":"china-not-taking-advantage-of-covid-19-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/28\/china-not-taking-advantage-of-covid-19-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"China not taking advantage of Covid-19: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Satellite picture of West Philippine Sea\/South China Sea (Photo By Serg!o – Satellite pictures, from NASA World Wind Globe, version 1.4, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday took a different stance with retired senior associate justice Antonio Carpio who claimed China is taking advantage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic by intensifying activities in the disputed South China Sea.<\/p>\n

While he maintained that the Philippines will continue to defend its sovereign rights at the South China Sea, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque opposed Carpio\u2019s remarks that China is \u201ctaking advantage\u201d in ramping up presence in the hotly-contested waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not agree with that conclusion. Although the current policy is we will defend all our national territory and our sovereign rights,\u201d Roque said in a virtual press briefing aired on state-run PTV-4.<\/p>\n

In an online forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Monday, Carpio suggested that the Philippines should hold joint patrols with Malaysia and Vietnam to counter \u201cgrave escalation\u201d of China\u2019s presence in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

Apart from the Philippines and China, Malaysia and Vietnam are also claiming parts of the South China Sea\u2019s vast waters believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves.<\/p>\n

In response to China\u2019s \u201cintimidation,\u201d Carpio said the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam could jointly patrol each other\u2019s territorial waters to send a message to Beijing that it \u201ccannot just pick us out one by one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque said the government would consider Carpio\u2019s proposed joint patrols with Malaysia and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

He, however, said that the Palace has different opinion with Carpio when it comes to China\u2019s reported presence in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not agree po with the personal opinions of Justice Carpio on what China is doing. But the suggestion on joint patrol is well taken. It will be considered,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

On April 22, the Department of Foreign Affairs filed two diplomatic protests against China over its supposed activities in the South China Sea that violated both sovereignty and international law.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic protests were filed after China pointed a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship in Philippine waters and declared parts of Philippine territory as part of Hainan province.<\/p>\n

During the Laging Handa program, National Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. advised Carpio to leave to defense experts the issues concerning the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

Esperon said the government also needs to use its resources wisely to prevent putting the Philippines in an \u201cawkward\u201d position.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung ang iniisip ni<\/em>\u00a0Justice Carpio\u00a0ay pakikipag-giyera, eh iwanan na lang niya iyan sa<\/em>\u00a0defense\u00a0at kinikilala natin siya sa larangan hustisya, eh huwag na siyang masyadong pumapel sa pakikipag-giyera<\/em>\u00a0(If Justice Carpio is thinking of waging a war, he should leave it to defense [experts]. We know him in the field of justice, but he should not bother thinking of going to war),\u201d Esperon said. \u201cHuwag tayong pumasok sa alanganin\u00a0<\/em>(Let us not put ourselves in an awkward situation).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday took a different stance with retired senior associate justice Antonio Carpio who claimed China is taking …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253395","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=253395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253396,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253395\/revisions\/253396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}