‘We Have to Do More’: Marcos Urges Fiercer Response, While Showing Restraint, Toward Chinese Aggression in South China Sea

As tensions escalate in the South China Sea, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said his country must “do more” in responding to China’s “illegal action” in the hotly contested waterway, following a confrontation last week that led to one Filipino navy serviceman losing a thumb.

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Marcos told reporters Thursday that Manila has filed “over a hundred” diplomatic protests after individual incidents with China—which have escalated in recent months to include the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) using water cannons, military-grade lasers, and dangerous boat maneuvers—but strong words have not curbed Beijing’s aggression. “We will summon the [Chinese] ambassador, state our position that we did not like what happened, and that’s it,” Marcos said. “But we have to do more than that.”

Marcos did not elaborate on what he meant by “more.” 

He refrained from saying that the incident with the CCG on June 17 constituted an “armed attack”—despite Chinese forces wielding bladed weapons like knives, spears, and axes—as doing so would trigger the Philippines’ mutual defense treaty with the U.S., dragging the world’s two biggest superpowers into conflict in the Pacific.

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“It’s not armed,” Marcos said. “Nothing was fired. Guns weren’t pointed at us. But it was a deliberate action to stop our people. And in the process of that, they boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel. So although there were no arms involved, nonetheless, it is still a deliberate action and it is essentially an illegal action.”

China has defended its actions last week, saying that, despite causing injury, its forces’ conduct was “professional and restrained.” Nevertheless, Beijing’s escalations in the South China Sea deliberately disregard an international ruling that invalidated China’s claims to the vast majority of the waterway.

Marcos, who came into power in the Philippines in 2022, has departed from the Beijing-deferential stance of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, though he has tried to maintain positive relations with both China and the U.S., which is proving an increasingly difficult task.