Philippine president proposes deal to China: Halt sea aggression, and US missiles will be withdrawn

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has offered to remove a US missile system from the Philippines if China halts what he called its “aggressive and coercive behavior” in the disputed South China Sea.

The US Army installed the Typhon mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines in April last year to support what the longtime treaty allies described as training for joint combat readiness.

China has repeatedly demanded that the Philippines remove the missile system, saying it was “inciting geopolitical confrontation and an arms race."

Asked by reporters about China's criticism of the missile system, Marcos said he did not understand the Chinese position because the Philippines does not comment on China's missile systems which “are a thousand times more powerful than what we have."

"Let's make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior, and we'll return the typhoon missiles,” Marcos told reporters in central Cebu province.

“Let them stop everything they're doing and I'll return all of those,” he said.

Chinese officials did not immediately comment on the Philippine leader's remarks.

The US Army's mobile Typhon missile system, which consists of a launcher and at least 16 Standard Missile-6 and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, was repositioned about two weeks ago from the northern Philippines to a strategic area nearer the capital, Manila, in consultation with Philippine defense officials, a senior Philippine official told The Associated Press.

The Philippine official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the sensitive issue in public, said the U.S. missile system is now nearer an area where Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy forces have been involved in increasingly tense faceoffs in the South China Sea.

Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which puts parts of mainland China within their range. The missile system will remain in the Philippines indefinitely, the Philippine official said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week that the Philippines is “creating tensions and antagonism in the region and inciting geopolitical confrontation and an arms race” by allowing the US missile system to be positioned in its territory.

"This is a highly dangerous move and an extremely irresponsible choice,” Mao said.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has rejected China's demand that the missile system be removed as interference in Philippine internal affairs.

The US and the Philippines have repeatedly condemned China's increasingly assertive actions to press its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where hostilities have flared over the past two years with repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard forces and accompanying vessels.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway, a key shipping route which is also believed to be sitting atop large undersea deposits of gas and oil.

(PTI)