The Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has called on the country to steer away from its “unbalanced” foreign policy in an implicit criticism of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as she offered her clearest indication yet of where she stands on China.
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In a speech delivered to a group of Filipinos at the Parliament Gardens in Melbourne on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio warned against leaning on “a foreign power” and allowing its weapons systems to be deployed in the Philippines, calling such moves contrary to the constitutional requirement of an independent foreign policy.
Although she did not specifically name it, her speech made a clear reference to the US military’s Medium Range Capability (MRC) missile system – also known as Typhon – which has been stationed in northern Luzon since last year. There have also been discussions regarding Manila hosting more of the launchers.
The ground-based launcher can fire Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles with ranges of up to 2,000km, which puts parts of the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and even southern China within striking range.
Beijing has called the Typhon’s deployment provocative and dangerous on multiple occasions, saying it could fuel an arms race and destabilise Southeast Asia. In May, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian called it “a strategic offensive weapon” that “brings huge risks of war into the region”.
During her speech, Duterte-Carpio said: “It is stated in our constitution that we should have an independent foreign policy that does not lean towards a foreign power, that does not favour the US or does not favour China.”