Dispatch from Crame No. 995:
China's Naked Opportunism in Philippine Waters through their Puppet Duterte and His Political Defeatism - Sen. Leila M. de Lima's reaction to China's Statement re: refusal to honor PH Arbitral win over WPS

12/12/20

China's doublespeak and thinly-veiled aggression in our territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea don't change the internationally recognized and honored arbitral ruling by the UNCLOS to which the Philippines won and China lost.

The legal and official battle is already done. We won this landmark case fair and square pursuant to international law. China's words claiming the entire South China Sea as theirs, including our West Philippine Sea, are naked opportunism unsettling the ASEAN Community.

China insists on bilateral negotiation with Duterte, seeing this man as their puppet.

On matters of national territory, the Philippine Constitution has supreme authority over President Duterte's political defeatism and infantile diplomacy, much less flirtations with China. The Basic Charter is categorical: "In its relations with other states the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest, and the right to self-determination." (Sec.7, Art. II)

China's political, economic and military squeezing within Philippine waters and our national affairs through President Duterte and their use of disinformation is at best unneighborly, and at worst oppressive.

There is only one, harmonious and long-term solution to this: China to back off! ###

(Access the handwritten version of Dispatch from Crame No. 995, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatchno995)