President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said the country is not rejecting China's proposal to resolve the issues in the South China Sea, but rather questioning the premise of its 10-dash-line claim on the disputed waters.
During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Chief Executive said the ten-dash line claim of China is "not recognized by any country, any international body, and certainly not by the Philippines."
Marcos is in Germany as part of his three-day working visit.
"We have not rejected any proposals that China has made for us. But the premise is something that we question. The premise that China has made is that their territory follows the 10-dash line. This is not recognized by any country, by any international body, and certainly not the Philippines," Marcos said.
The President pointed out the Philippines' baselines were already well-established for years and that China intruded into the country's economic zone.
"We have the economic zone that China has already intruded upon and until that premise, that China has made in terms of all these discussions with the Philippines, it is very difficult to see a way forward," he continued.
As the President, Marcos stressed that it is his duty to defend the country's territory whether it is on land or sea.
"The first article of the Constitution of the Philippines is the article that describes and defines the territorial area, maritime, and land-based territory of the Philippines. It is my duty, I have no choice, but to defend that and we will continue to defend that," he said.
"It’s not solely the interest of the Philippines or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or the Indo-Pacific region but the entire world. It is all our interest to keep it a safe passage for all international commerce that goes on in the South China Sea," he added.
Scholz, in the same press conference, renewed his support to the country "in ensuring that rights are being protected."
“Respect for international law is of greatest importance to us and this is equally true for the international law that governs international navigation. We have the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, we have the arbitral tribunal. I believe it to be very important to adhere to the legislation in place,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) previously revealed that it received several maritime-related proposals from China last year. However, only a few of those were "somewhat workable," while many were contrary to the interest of the Philippines.
"While a few proposals were deemed somewhat workable, many of the remaining Chinese proposals were determined, after careful study, scrutiny, and deliberation within the Philippine Government, to be contrary to our national interests," the DFA said in a statement.
