MANILA, Philippines - Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) assailed Pres. Benigno Aquino III for defending the proposal granting American and Japanese troops access to Philippine bases amid the ongoing territorial dispute with China.
The group warned that such plan will only escalate tensions in the region that cannot be undone unlike in a video game.
“The President must realize that crafting foreign policy is not like playing a video game where you can reset and restart after your character blows up. There is no reset button. The president continues to escalate tensions in the region by allowing US intervention, based on the erroneous assumption that the US is out to help us," Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes, Jr. said in a statement.
The group further claimed that Aquino is "not upholding national interest" since he is giving China another reason to also escalate its activities.
Earlier this week, Aquino said the country needs all the help it can get from allies, particularly the US and Japan, in enhancing its defense capabilities and in dealing specifically with China’s growing military presence in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“If we don’t get in touch with them (allies) in putting order to our system in cases of conflict, then I think that is the kind of wrong preparation. So, they also need someone who knows our terrain, and we also need inter-operability with them,†Aquino said.
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But the President clarified that the access arrangement will not be made permanent.
The Philippines and China, along with some Southeast Asian nations, are pressing territorial claims over the West Philippine sea, with China claiming virtually all of the disputed territories.
Chinese warships have maintained a constant presence in the disputed sea while the Philippines have reiterated is call to resolve the territorial row through peaceful means under international laws.
Over the weekend, the People’s Daily of the ruling Chinese Communist Party said the Philippines was inviting a counterstrike for “provoking†Beijing.