February 27 ------ The Philippines dismissed the call of Chinese state media to pull out the United States' Typhon intermediate range missile from the South China Sea. In a statement, the National Security Council (NSC) said the Philippines has the "sovereign and inherent right" to improve its defense capabilities in times which it deems appropriate. "The Typhon missile system is deployed only for defense purposes and will only be used in this manner. We refute the assertion that the Typhon missile system will endanger the region," it said. "We strictly adhere to the provisions of the constitution that the Philippines can neither employ the use of nuclear weapons or engage in offensive war," it added.
The NSC also called out China for calling out the Philippines when Beijing is the one allegedly dramatically boosting its offensive capabilities. "It is in this same spirit that we have not commented previously on China's ever rising missile inventory which is the actual threat to regional stability," the NSC said. "It is deceptive for the PRC (People's Republic of China) to comment on our right to improve our defense capabilities and position when they are the ones dramatically improving offensive capabilities," it added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, said no foreign nation can dictate how the country will fortify its defenses. "Lahat po ito na ginagawa natin as we strengthen our alliances with like-minded nations, we continue with our exercises with the well-meaning nations. Lahat po 'yan parte po ng pag-strengthen natin ng ating depensa ng ating bansa," AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters in a virtual interview. Padilla stressed that it is the mandate of the AFP to uphold national security so the military needs to counter and mitigate attacks to protect Philippines' sovereignty. "The AFP is committed to ensuring a secure and resilient Philippines in the face of modern challenges. So kung ano po 'yung modern challenges that we're facing, titignan po natin how we would counter and mitigate attacks to our sovereignty," she said.
People's Daily, the newspaper of the governing Communist Party, asserted in a commentary that the Philippines should withdraw the US missile launcher from the South China Sea, saying Manila had supposedly broken its promises to pull out the missile system. "The region needs peace and prosperity, not intermediate range missiles and confrontation," the Chinese newspaper said. "The Philippines has repeatedly gone back on its word and acted in bad faith initially promising that it was only a temporary deployment and that the system would be withdrawn," it added.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said last month that he was willing to pull out the Typhon missiles from the country only if China will stop its aggressions in the West Philippine Sea. Marcos made the remark in response to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry calling on the Philippines to "correct the wrongdoing as soon as possible" by pulling out the missile launchers.
The Typhon missile system includes Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting targets in both China and Russia, while its SM-6 missiles can engage air or sea targets over 200 kilometers away, according to a Reuters report.
Source: gmanetwork.com
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