Philippines Adopts New Defense Strategy Amid South China Sea Row

By Ditas Lopez

Mar 9, 2024 (Bloomberg) —Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has directed the military to enforce a new strategy to defend the nation’s territory and economic interests, days after the latest clash with Chinese ships in the disputed South China Sea.

“We are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and Exclusive Economic Zone in order to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours,” Teodoro said in a statement issued on Friday.

Early this week, four Filipino personnel were injured after two Chinese coast-guard vessels used water cannons against a ship chartered by the Philippine military for a resupply operation. Philippine and Chinese ships collided as Chinese vessels made “dangerous blocking maneuvers,” Manila said.

The Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, introduced by the defense chief in January, is part of an effort to upgrade the Southeast Asian Nation’s military capability and coordinate government efforts to give Philippine nationals and companies and those authorized by its government unhampered exploration of natural resources within the EEZ. 

The strategy was “adopted by the Marcos administration for its whole-of-government approach to address the maritime dispute with China.” the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement on Saturday. 

“This is a strategic action and will not need constant directives to carry out,” Teodoro said.

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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