Counterproductive para kay Pangulong Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. kung gagamitin na ang Mutual Defense Treaty ng Pilipinas at Amerika sa nangyaring panunutok ng military grade laser ng China sa Philippine Coast Guard sa Ayungin Shoal noong Pebrero 6.
Sa ambush interview sa Pangulo sa Philippine Military Academy Alumni Homecoming sa Baguio City, sinabi nito na lalo lamang kasing lalala ang tensyon sa lugar.
“Perhaps it is because if we activated that, what we are doing is escalating the — intensifying the tensions in the area and I think that would be counterproductive,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
“Besides, despite the fact that it was a military-grade laser that was pointed at our Coast Guard, I do not think that that is sufficient for it to trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty,” dagdag ng Pangulo.
Sabi ng Pangulo, patuloy naman ang ugnayan ng Pilipinas sa mga treaty partners.
“So we are in constant contact of course with our treaty partners, not only with the United States but also our ASEAN partners and our partners here in Asia and that I think is the better recourse rather than to go directly to the Mutual Defense Treaty which again, I am very concerned would provoke the tensions rather than cool the tensions down,” pahayag ng Pangulo.
Una nang ipinatawag ng Pangulo sa Palassyo ng Malakanyang si Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.
“Actually, I said we have to find a way around this because if we are such close friends such as China and the Philippines, these are not the kind of incidents that we should be talking about between the President and the Ambassador to the Philippines from China,” dagdag ng Pangulo.
“And I reminded him that this was not what we agreed upon with President Xi (Jinping) when I visited him in Beijing,” saad ng Pangulo.
Umaasa ang Pangulo na makahahanap ng paraan ang dalawang bansa para matugunan ang naturang isyu.
“So we are hoping that we can find a better way rather than these incursions into our maritime territory and the rather aggressive acts that we have been seeing in the past few weeks and months,” pahayag ng Pangulo.