10-dash line shows Ch expansionist policy
By J.Lo
"That is proven by new administrative map where they added another dash line… best evidence of their expansionist agenda to dominate whole South China Sea and perhaps beyond," Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said during deliberations on Department of National Defense's proposed P232-billion budget for 2024.
10-dash line shown in 2023 edition of Beijing's standard national map is unequivocal proof of its expansionist policy in South China Sea, according to Teodoro Jr.
"Whenever it calls Philippines puppets of US, China implicitly admits they are expanding by using word 'contain,' " he stressed.
Aside from Philippines, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan have also protested latest development in China's map, previously featured nine-dash line virtually claimed entire South China Sea.
Sen. Francis Tolentino agreed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that conflict in West Philippine Sea is not proxy war.
FMJ rejected "misleading narratives frame disputes in South China Sea solely through lens of strategic competition between two powerful countries." He made assertion during 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.
"It's not proxy war because United States is not our only ally here. ..Japan is also our ally, Australia is our ally, United Kingdom is our ally, Europe is our ally... I also mentioned in recent weeks, India has emerged as ally... so almost everyone," Tolentino said in interview with media.
China has been aggressor in numerous incidents occurred in South China Sea, despite being signatory to 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
In 2016, China's "historic rights" claim over entire South China Sea was debunked in an arbitration case after The Hague ruled in favor of Philippines.
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