Phl Rejects China’s Criticism Of Missile Acquisition

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro rejected on Tuesday, Dec. 24, Chinese criticism of Manila’s plan to acquire a US-built mid-range missile system, telling Beijing to stop its “saber rattling” and “interference” in internal affairs.

The Philippine Army announced plans on Monday, Dec. 23, to acquire the US Typhon missile system as part of a push to protect Manila’s maritime interests, swiftly drawing a warning from China about a regional “arms race.”

China’s navy and coast guard have engaged in escalating confrontations with the Philippines in recent months over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

“The Philippines is a sovereign state, not any country’s ‘doorstep’,” Teodoro said.

“Any deployment and procurement of assets related to the Philippines’ security and defense fall within its own sovereign prerogative and are not subject to any foreign veto,” he said in a statement.

The US Army deployed the Typhon missile system in the northern Philippines for annual joint military exercises with its longtime ally this year and decided to leave it there, despite criticism by Beijing that it was destabilizing to Asia.

Philippine military officials said the Typhon system would be able to protect vessels up to 370 kilometers off the coast, the limit of its maritime entitlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Filipino troops are in training to operate the land-based missile launcher, developed by US firm Lockheed Martin for the US Army and which has a range of 480 kilometers.

Teodoro said upgrading the Philippines’ defenses “is not targeted against specific countries.”

He urged Beijing’s Communist party rulers to “cease their saber rattling, stop their provocative actions (and) halt their interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”

Manila and Washington have deepened their defense cooperation since President Marcos took office in 2022 and began pushing back against Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea.

‘Subservience’

The country’s planned acquisition of the Typhon missile system from the US is a “vassal-like subservience to foreign powers” that can trigger another nuclear arms race, a militant former lawmaker said on Tuesday.

“We denounce the Marcos Jr. administration’s US satellite-like foreign policy, which has contributed to bringing the world to the brink of a renewed nuclear arms race, instead of amity, goodwill and peace among nations,” former Bayan Muna congressman Carlos Zarate said in a statement.

He strongly criticized the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ plan to acquire the Typhon missile systems would further entrench the Philippines in dangerous military alignments that compromise the country’s safety.

“This vassal-like subservience to foreign powers, particularly the US, gravely puts our country’s interests and security at risk,” he added.

The militant former lawmaker emphasized that the missile acquisition plan can make the Philippines a potential target in conflicts not of its own making.

“Acquiring Typhon missiles will only place our country in grave danger. The Filipino people should rightfully and strongly denounce both the Marcos Jr. administration and the US for making and marking the country as target of nuclear warheads from countries not necessarily the enemies of the Philippines and the Filipino people,” Zarate said.

He stressed obtaining high-tech arms is not the solution to the country’s problem. “We demand that the Marcos Jr. administration abide by the constitutional edicts of pursuing an independent foreign policy and making the Philippines free of nuclear arms and foreign troops,” Zarate said.

“This kind of defense spending will only put a heavy strain on our already debt-saddled national budget, will worsen the deficit and will even result in an unnecessary arms race with other counties in the region,” he added.

He pointed out that recent developments, including the US deployment of the Typhon Weapons System to Northern Luzon, have already heightened tensions in the region.

“Bayan Muna vigorously denounces the US non-stop hawkish instigations in the South China Sea, which only serve to advance its hegemonic interests in the Asia-Pacific region,” Zarate said.

He stressed the Marcos administration must give top priority to the safety and sovereignty of the country and its people and not the interest of a foreign country.

Bayan Muna also called on the Marcos administration to counter China’s aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea through more active diplomatic initiatives, multilateral engagements in fora like the United Nations, rallying other claimant countries and China for the adoption of a mutually acceptable code of conduct and “other non-hawkish, resource-depleting initiatives.” – With Jose Rodel Clapano, AFP