Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country would not invoke a defense treaty with the US and was aiming “to cool the tensions down” after a Chinese ship aimed a laser light at a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea.
(Bloomberg) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country would not invoke a defense treaty with the US and was aiming “to cool the tensions down” after a Chinese ship aimed a laser light at a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea.
“I do not think that that is sufficient for it to trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Marcos said on Saturday, according to his communications office. “If we activated that, what we are doing is escalating the — intensifying the tensions in the area and I think that would be counterproductive.”
Tensions between the Philippines and China grew after the Southeast Asian nation’s coast guard said a Chinese vessel aimed a military-grade laser toward a Philippine ship in the South China Sea. The event prompted Marcos to summon China’s envoy, who has maintained the laser was not military grade that could inflict harm on anyone.
Marcos said keeping constant contact with treaty partners in Asia and the US is the “better recourse” for the situation.
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