President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday vowed to continue defending the country’s territory particularly after China released the 2023 version of its map featuring a new 10-dash line that defines its boundaries in the West Philippine Sea.

“We of course will continue to defend our territorial sovereignty, our territorial rights. We have not changed our approach. It is other countries around us that have changed their approach,” Marcos said during an interview in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

“Now, once again, we received the news, that now the nine-dash line has been extended to the 10-dash line. So, these are the — we have to respond to all of these and we will but again, these are operational details that I would prefer not to talk about.”

The Philippines, Marcos said, has stayed true to the rules-based international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which has put the country on very solid ground in terms of its assertions for territorial sovereignty and maritime territory, and this has been validated by many countries around the world.

“And we should take strength in that and I believe that that again is a very big help to the Philippines in continuing to defend our maritime borders.”

The Philippines rejected China’s 2023 version of its map. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is the latest attempt to legitimize China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS.

India and Malaysia opposed the map issued by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources on August 28. The map covers a large part of the South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.

Regions of Taiwan and India were also covered to be part of China’s territory. Presidential News Desk