‘China wants respect, but bullies Phl’

A ranking member of the House of Representatives yesterday accused China of implementing a double standard with its "expansionist" conduct in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), demanding respect but continuing its bullying of the Philippines and other neighboring countries.

- DELON PORCALLA

"While China wants the international community to respect their self-drawn nine-dash line and eleven-dash line, they do not respect us and continue to intrude in our declared 200-mile economic zone," quad committee overall chairman Rep. Robert Ace Barbers observed.

The Surigao del Norte second district congressman further claimed that Beijing repeatedly "ignores the decision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the issue," which Manila won in July 2016.