Duterte will "go to war" if China crosses "red lines" Philippine FM claims

rt.com

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is ready to go to war with Beijing if it crosses ‘red lines’ and unilaterally claims natural resources in the disputed South China Sea, the country’s foreign minister has warned.

The Philippines will go to war to protect its rights in the South China Sea, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano noted, somewhat contradicting President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy of avoiding any confrontation with their neighbor.

“If anyone gets the natural resources in the West Philippine Sea, he [Duterte] will go to war,” Cayetano said on Monday.

“He said, ‘Bahala na.’ (meaning come what may) [But] he will go to war,” Cayetano repeated, outlining 'red lines' amid a simmering territorial dispute with Beijing, which continues to ignore the 2016 international arbitration ruling that said “there was no legal basis” for China to claim historic rights in the South China Sea.

Manila's red lines include any Chinese construction at the Scarborough Shoal or any effort to remove a dilapidated Philippine warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, from Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed Spratly Islands. “Another red line is that nobody will get natural resources there on their own,” Cayetano added.

“Our soldiers should not be harassed when they deliver supplies or when they repair the runways” on Spratly’s Thitu Island, the largest of the Philippine-administered territories in the disputed region, he added. Last year, the island became the scene of a stand-off between Chinese and Philippine vessels when a Chinese fleet blocked a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ship from approaching the area.