Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin speaks at a press convention after assembly Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, China on March 20, 2019.
Andrea Verdelli | Getty Images
Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. slammed China with decidedly undiplomatic language on Twitter Monday, suggesting the Asian large “get the f— out” as the 2 nations interact in a confrontation over the South China Sea.
Locsin within the tweet accused China of straining its “friendship” with the Philippines. The foreign affairs secretary has been a vocal critic of China within the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who sought closer ties with Beijing after taking workplace in 2016.
China’s embassy within the Philippine capital of Manila didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
In response to criticism of his rhetoric made by different Twitter customers, Locsin mentioned the “usual suave diplomatic speak gets nothing done.”
The Philippines and China have for years contested overlapping territorial claims within the South China Sea, a resource-rich waterway with a complete space of about 1.four million sq. miles the place trillions in {dollars} of world commerce go. Beijing has prior to now yr appeared more assertive within the disputed waters.
Locsin’s Monday tweet adopted a statement by the Philippine foreign affairs department, which protested the “unlawful presence” of Chinese vessels in elements of the South China Sea which are internationally acknowledged as belonging to the Philippines.
The assertion lashed out at “belligerent actions” by the Chinese coast guard in opposition to their Philippine counterparts within the neighborhood of Bajo de Masinloc. It mentioned the Chinese had engaged in “shadowing, blocking, harmful maneuver, and radio challenges” on April 24 to 25.
It additionally protested the “incessant, unlawful, extended, and rising presence of Chinese ending vessels and maritime militia vessels in Philippine maritime zones.”
China ‘enjoys sovereignty’
Beijing last week maintained that it “enjoys sovereignty” over Bajo de Masinloc — which it calls Huangyan Island — and its surrounding waters. It urged the Philippines to not escalate disputes.
Bajo de Masinloc, also referred to as Scarborough Shoal, is a sequence of reefs within the South China Sea that lies round 120 nautical miles from the closest Philippine coast and 470 nautical miles from the closest coast of China.
China claims a lot of the South China Sea, primarily based on what it says are 9 dashes that delineate Chinese territory in historic maps.
An worldwide tribunal in 2016 dismissed the so-called nine-dash line as legally baseless — a ruling ignored by Beijing.
