{"id":5756,"date":"2019-12-29T16:23:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T05:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=5756"},"modified":"2020-01-05T03:23:44","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T16:23:44","slug":"president-duterte-asks-u-s-to-declare-war-on-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=5756","title":{"rendered":"President Duterte asks U.S. to declare war on China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As seen on the August 2019 issue of The Philippine Sentinel<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the plenary session\nof the 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Bangkok on June\n22, 2019, Philippine President Duterte asked the United States to declare war\non China. He also asked the mighty American nation to deploy its 7th Fleet to\nthe South China Sea with intention to push China out of the contested region.\nThe U.S. 7th Fleet consists of some 70 to 80 warships and submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines is one of\nfive nations whose claims in the South China Sea overlap with China’s\nhistorical claim of its so-called \u201cNine Dash Line.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area contains rich\nfishing grounds, vital shipping routes and potential natural resources, but\nChina has dismissed competing claims and enforced its control there by building\na network of military bases on expanded or man-made shoals and reefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. has repeatedly\ncondemned Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. American naval commanders\nregularly send warships and aircraft on “freedom of navigation” and\noverflight operations designed to keep pressure on Beijing and assert\nWashington’s belief that the area constitutes international waters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Duterte told reporters\nthat such measures are insufficient, and that if the U.S. wants China out of\nthe South China Sea, he would be willing to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have a proposal,”\nDuterte said, according to Business Insider. “If America wants China to\nleave, and I can’t make them…I want the whole 7th Fleet of\nthe armed forces of the United States of America there.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When they enter the\nSouth China Sea, I will enter,” he said. “I will ride with the\nAmerican who goes there first. Then I will tell the Americans, ‘Okay, let’s\nbomb everything.'” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte’s inflammatory\nspeech was his second in three days, having also been beating war drums. During\na speech marking the opening of a rice processing plant on the central island\nof Leyte, the president said the U.S. is always “pushing us, egging\nus” towards war with Beijing, “making me the bait,” according to\nthe Philippine Daily Inquirer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What do you think\nFilipinos are, earthworms?” he asked. “Now, I say, you bring your\nplanes, your boats to South China Sea. Fire the first shot, and we are just\nhere behind you. Go ahead, let’s fight.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. and the Philippines\nhave a mutual defence agreement, but some Filipino lawmakers have warned that\nthe country could be dragged into a war with China against its wishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“America said, ‘We will\nprotect you. We will \u2014 your backs are covered, I’m sure,'” he said in\nMarch. “But the problem here is…any declaration of war will pass\nCongress. You know how bulls**t America’s Congress is.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions between Beijing and\nManila have been especially high in recent weeks after the sinking of a\nFilipino fishing boat in June, which left 22 fishermen drifting in the South\nChina Sea near the Reed Bank table mount. A Chinese vessel, which fled the\nscene, has been blamed for the incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A passing Vietnamese ship\neventually rescued the stranded sailors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(SOURCE:\nNewsweek)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I will ride with the American who goes there first. Then I will tell the Americans, ‘Okay, let’s bomb everything.'” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":5737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5795,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions\/5795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}