MANILA – Malacañang said it is important to know the reason behind the constant passing of Chinese warships in Sibutu Strait near Tawi-tawi.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the statement after the Western Mindanao Command reported the movement of the armed Chinese vessels to Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“We want to know bakit sila doon dumadaan,” Panelo said on Saturday.
Panelo, however, was not sure whether President Rodrigo Duterte will raise the incursions on his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.
“That’s the call of the President, whatever issue he wants to take with President Xi,” Panelo said. “But I suppose taking that up will also be important because, as Mr. Lorenzana said…the incident has been repeatedly done.”
“Therefore, it is becoming an irritant, and we have to know exactly why they’re passing through that strait when the shortest route going to China can be done on a different route,” he added.
Panelo last week said the military’s report that five more Chinese warships sailed in Philippine waters in Sibutu Strait without informing Manila was concerning more so was not “an act of friendship.”
He added the actions may be a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which only allows innocent passage of ships through the territorial sea of a coastal state provided that it will be “continuous and expeditious.”/PN
