MANILA, Philippines- Sisilipin ng Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) ang naiulat na military exercise na isinagawa ng Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy sa loob ng exclusive economic zone (EEZ) ng Pilipinas.
Sinabi ni DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo sa isang panayam sa sidelines ng kanyang bilateral meeting kasama si Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjárto, kailangan munang malaman ng DFA ang “exact nature” na naiulat na illegal maritime exercises.
“We want to see the nature, the exact nature of those,” wika ni Manalo.
“As we’ve always said, we want to manage it peacefully and if there are any incidents which raise tensions, that’s certainly something that we would like to avoid,” dagdag ng opisyal.
Samantala, hindi naman nagkomento si Manalo kung maituturing na nakaaalarma ang ganitong gawain.
“It is really important how we can manage that and to avoid actions that would tend to raise tensions,” giit niya.
Nauna nang kinumpirma ng Armed Forces of the Philippines ang presensya ng 22 Chinese navy vessels sa loob ng Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone mula Hunyo 4 hanggang 10, mas marami kumpara sa 11 vessels na na-monitor mula Mayo 28 hanggang Hunyo 3.
Marami ang namataan sa Ayungin Shoal, halos 35 nautical miles mula sa Escoda Shoal kung saan sinasabing nagsagawa ang PLA ng illegal military drills.
“The increase is in the number of PLA Navy ships that can be attributed to the just concluded exercise conducted by the PLA Navy last June 2-4 in the vicinity of Sabina Shoal,” pahayag ni Philippine Navy Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad sa naunang panayam.
“Their presence by itself is already escalatory. Whatever actions they do in furtherance of their coercive, aggressive and deceptive presence will only point out that they have no right to be in our EEZ,” giit ni Trinidad. RNT/SA
