The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) compared the nation’s approach to addressing disputes with China to a strategic “game of chess,” emphasizing that the Philippines relies on asserting its rights in the West Philippine Sea as its primary strength against China’s military power.
On Tuesday, AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said China’s nuclear arsenal was a different playing field and the Philippines was using its voice and the law to fight, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) among other international doctrines.
“The Philippines is playing somewhat like a strategic game. We’re playing like a game of chess… We’re using our voice to fight, and we’re using the law. The arbitral ruling, UNCLOS, has already ruled in our favor, and thus this right as our might has shown its power. We cannot speculate on how others would fortify their defenses,” she said.
Padilla noted that the Philippines is continuing its modernization efforts and reinforcing its alliances to confront challenges posed by China.
“If they are doing might versus right, we’ll still continue on with using our right as our might,” she added.
In response to reports of China expanding its nuclear arsenal, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, emphasized that the Philippines signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1968.
“We are among the most freedom-loving and hospitable people in the world… We do not look at any country as a threat unless this country would commence illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions against us unless any country would start intruding into our maritime zones,” said Trinidad.
“The build-up of nuclear weapons by the members of the nuclear club has been there since post-World War II. So that is a dynamic, a reality that all countries in the world will have to face,” he said.
