Girl power! Kamala Harris backs West PH Sea arbitrator’s ‘definitive slap’ on ‘pro-China’ Duterte – De Lima

That’s how you do it.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has just shown the Philippines how to assert the country’s maritime claims to the Western Philippine Sea, according to Senator Leila de Lima.

According to De Lima, the US vice president saying his support for the UN tribunal ruling was the right thing to say against China’s illegal incursions into the country’s waters.

During his recent visit to the country, Harris claimed earlier that the United States supports the 2016 arbitration award which rejected China’s vast maritime claims in the South China Sea. The American veteran insisted that the court’s decision is “legally binding and must be respected”. Harris was in Manila for a three-day visit earlier this week.

“It took a female foreign leader to forcefully speak out about China’s continued violation of the Philippines’ sovereignty in the WPS,” De Lima said in a statement posted to her social media page.

“U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ categorical acknowledgment of the 2016 arbitration award is simply an affirmation of the global rule of law regime that is entirely lost on China,” she added.

De Lima went on to slam former President Rodrigo Duterte for his supposed “pro-China” stance. She said the arbitration award should have been capitalized on by the Philippines to shore up global support.

“What we need to remind others is a definitive slap in the face to the traitorous pro-China former PH chairman,” she added.

The former Duterte administration has been criticized for weak efforts to protect the Western Philippine Sea from excessive claims by China. Duterte, who led the country from 2016 to 2022, has pursued closer bilateral relations with China, even being open to joint oil exploration in the Western Philippine Sea.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced earlier that the Philippines will send a note verbale to China following the confrontation between Filipino and Chinese forces near the island of Pag-asa. Marcos plans to raise the issue of the South China Sea, especially discussing how to prevent similar incidents, when he visits China in January 2023.

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