Philippines vows to ignore China maritime law, seeks US help

Philippine defence chief visits Washington, DC to press for a comprehensive review of mutual defence treaty, lobby for advance military equipment.

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has promised that Manila will ignore China’s amended maritime law, which now requires foreign vessels sailing in the South China Sea to report their information to Chinese authorities. “Our stand on that is we do not honour those laws by the Chinese within the West Philippine Sea because we consider that we have the sovereign right within this waters. So we will not recognise this law of the Chinese,” Lorenzana said during an event marking the Philippines’ Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States. Lorenzana made the statement as he continues his visit to the United States to press for a review of the MDT and to lobby for more advanced military equipment for the Philippines in the face of Chinese territorial threat.