The Philippines and other claimants should band together and oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea, acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said on Monday.
For the nth time, Carpio called on the Duterte administration to bring a formal diplomatic protest opposing China’s militarization of the disputed waterway, the latest of which was the deployment of nuclear-capable bomber planes in the Paracels.
According to international military analysts, the successful landing of the H-6K bomber, which has a combat radius of 3,520 kilometers, on Woody Island puts all of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, within China’s striking range.
“Any self-respecting sovereign state will immediately formally protest such encroachment on its sovereignty and sovereign rights. The Philippines must do no less,” Carpio said in an e-mail to the Inquirer.