PH not a proxy war tool vs China - Tolentino

MANILA - Senator Francis 'TOL' N. Tolentino dismissed what could be deceptive chronologies that the Philippines is being used as a 'proxy war' tool by other nations against China.

In an interview with GMA Super Radyo DZBB on Sunday, Tolentino stressed that there is no way the Philippine government will allow itself to become a tool for surrogate conflict amid the continuing rising tensions between claimant Southeast Asian countries and China along the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

"Hindi po proxy war kasi hindi lang naman United States ang kaalyado natin dito eh. Kaalyado rin natin ang Japan, kaalyado natin ang Australia, kaalyado natin ang United Kingdom, kaalyado natin ang Europe... nabanggit ko rin in the recent weeks, lumantad ng (kaalyado) ang India. So halos lahat," said Tolentino, vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

During the 43rd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia last week, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has rejected "misleading narratives that frame the disputes in the South China Sea solely through the lens of strategic competition between two powerful countries"--China and the United States.

According to Tolentino, with the latest development on China's aggression through the unilateral assailment of the 10-dash line, other ASEAN neighbors like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei may became vocal too against the belligerence acts being shown by the Asian superpower.

"Hindi ito proxy war. Kasi kung proxy war ito, proxy war din tayo ng Japan. Proxy war din tayo ng UK. Proxy war din tayo ng Australia. Proxy war din tayo ng New Zealand," he added.

Sen. Tol stressed that the international community's outburst against China's aggression only shows that "there is a need to abide by a treaty called 'United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea' or UNCLOS, and China is a signatory to that treaty."