VANCOUVER, Canada — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) said China’s sanctions against Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. were "very unhelpful" as "it really achieves very little."
Marcos issued the statement after China’s foreign ministry announced that Teodoro, his wife and their child would be barred from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, after he had “repeatedly made irresponsible remarks” about China. It did not specify the remarks that had triggered the sanctions.
"How do you say, a response to some of the things that he, some of the pronouncements that he's made in a foreign forum. But it does not move the discussion between the Philippines and China regarding the territorial conflicts that we have. It does not move that process forward in any way," Marcos said during a media interview here.
"It does not make it easier. It does not lessen the risk of a mistake or some kind of skirmish that could grow into something more. Or even I'm moving forward trying to resolve this issue so it's just not helpful," he added
The President also said it is China's prerogative "to do whatever it is they please but in the largest scheme of things in my view it it it raises the level of tension rather than lessen."
"That's why we continue to have open lines of communications with Beijing. And we continue to look for as many lines of communications that we can have, both in foreign government to government, on the commercial level, on the purely personal level. Everything that we can is being explored," Marcos said.
"And cutting off another line of communication, which is through our defense ministries, I do not see how it will help that process that we're trying to achieve to manage the tensions in the West Philippine Sea to lessen the likelihood of something happening that will be a trigger for something worse. So again, as I said, it's China's prerogative, but I really feel that it was unhelpful," he added.
