China may not have intended to harm Navy ship: Lorenzana
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Chinese vessel may not have intended to harm the Philippine Navy ship when it pointed the gun control director in the West Philippine Sea in February.
"What I told to our Navy and Air Force is that maybe they (Chinese) will not intend to fire missile against our ships and aircraft, but it is just the same on what they did whenever we go there in West Philippine Sea within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone),'' he said at the Laging Handa briefing Tuesday.
''They challenged us saying 'you are traversing Chinese territory' but we answer them saying 'we are travelling within our EEZ or within Philippine territory," he said.
"This latest radar gun (pointing incident), they may not intend to harm our (ship). Maybe they just wanted to know how are we going to react. We have already filed a protest to the Chinese government," he added.
However, Lorenzana admitted that the act of pointing the radar gun against the Philippine Navy ship is "offensive."
"It’s offensive also because why they have to point their target acquisition radars to our airplane and ship?" he said.
National Security Adviser Sec. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the protest filed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to China which includes this incident in West Philippine Sea will be discussed in a meeting of National Task Force West Philippine Sea on Tuesday afternoon. Robina Asido/DMS
