RP 'can't afford' Spratlys clash

RP 'can't afford' Spratlys clash

MANILA (AFP): Philippines Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado accused China on Tuesday of bullying his country by expanding a structure on a reef in the disputed Spratly islands but President Joseph Estrada said Manila could not afford to be confrontational.

"We should be more diplomatic and we'll do it (settle the issue) through negotiations. Let us not be confrontational because we know we can't afford it," Estrada said, in an apparent reference to the notoriously weak Philippine military.

Mercado said China was taking advantage of this weakness to establish a military presence and presented aerial photographs showing how China had expanded the structures on Mischief Reef.

"It is an act of bullying. It is because they know we do not have the capability to resist at this time," he said. "The obvious reason they are doing this to us is because they know we are weak," Mercado told a press conference where he presented photographs taken on Oct. 29 and Nov. 5.