In South China Sea, Philippines fights itself over Beijing’s coastguard law

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr rubbishes suggestion by presidential spokesman that Manila could take Beijing to an international tribunal

Discord amid silence from Duterte suggests confusion in Manila’s response to a law critics fear will be used to enforce Beijing’s territorial claims

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Chinese coastguard ships in the South China Sea. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:30pm, 2 Feb 2021Updated: 9:26am, 3 Feb 2021

Philippine fishermen may have branded China’s new coastguard law a “virtual declaration of war”, but so far most of the fighting talk from Manila has been infighting.

In remarks that betray divisions at the top of the Philippine government, the presidential spokesperson and the foreign secretary launched a war of words with each other over how to respond to the law, which came into effect on Monday and authorises Chinese coastguard vessels to carry out pre-emptive strikes against foreign vessels in waters “under China’s jurisdiction”.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr rubbished a suggestion by the presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday that Manila was considering taking China to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea over the matter.

“I am not listening to Harry Roque. Love the guy but he’s not competent in this field. We do not go back to The Hague. We might lose what we won. Harry, lay off,” said Locsin in a tweet, referring to the 2016 judgment by an international tribunal that sided with Manila in rejecting China’s territorial claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea.

Harry Roque, Presidential Spokesperson of Philippines. Photo: Edmond So

Undaunted, Roque fired back on Tuesday that he “loved” Locsin too – referring to him as a “Tisoy” or “cute mestizo” – adding that as a past president of the Asian Society of International Law he knew what he was talking about.