'PNoy won't tone down comments on China'

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Tuesday brushed aside the call made by a US general for Asian leaders to modulate their comments regarding China's territorial aggression.

According to a Bloomberg report, Gen. Herbert Carlisle, commander of the US Air Forces in the Pacific, has urged countries involved in the maritime disputes with China to "try and defuse tensions."

This is after Pres. Benigno Aquino III and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly likened China's maritime assertiveness to events prior to World War II in Europe.

Carlisle said such remarks were "not helpful." But he added that a possible move by China to extend its air defense identification zone would also be "very provocative."

But Malacañang shrugged off Carlisle's call for nations to tone down their remarks.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Sonny Coloma said Carlisle is a military commander and "his view of the world is different from the view of the world taken on by heads of state" like President Aquino.

"[Carlisle] can say what he likes, but the President has the national interest in mind and he needs to say what he needs to say at the right time," Coloma said in an interview on ANC's Headstart.

In an interview with the New York Times last week, Aquino compared China's aggression in the South China Sea to Adolf Hitler's demands for the Sudetenland before the world war.

The President said like the Czech land, the Philippines now needs more support from foreign powers.

Malacañang had denied that the President intended to offend China.

"He was simply stating the principled position of the Philippines that there is need for international solidarity to uphold the rule of law in defending our claims," Coloma told ANC.

The Palace official added that Aquino only wanted to point out that states belonging to the United Nations should uphold the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

China, which is citing centuries-old maps to back its claims in the South China Sea, has drawn a nine-dash line to assert its sovereignty over the disputed waters.

The Philippines has filed a case before the United Nation's Arbitral Tribunal to question China's maritime claims.

"Hindi naman dapat iyan dinadaan sa drawing o sa mapa. Daanin natin sa rule of law, we are in the modern age. Hindi naman puwedeng puro kasaysayan lamang ang pagbabatayan natin," Coloma said. "Hindi na idinadaan sa mga mapa-mapa at sa mga drawing-drawing. Doon na sa totohanang pagtutuos o pag-define, ano ba talaga ang maritime entitlements."