MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president mentioned Saturday the Chinese language coast guard’s aiming of a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some crew aboard a Philippine patrol vessel within the disputed South China Sea was not sufficient for him to invoke a mutual protection treaty with the US however added he advised China that such aggression ought to cease.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. advised a information convention he additionally reminded China’s ambassador to Manila that escalating aggression and incursions into Philippine waters by Beijing’s coast guard, navy and maritime militia forces violate an settlement he struck with Chinese language President Xi Jinping final month.

“Even though it was a military-grade laser that was pointed at our coast guard, I don’t assume that that’s adequate for it to set off the Mutual Protection Treaty,” Marcos mentioned in his first public remarks concerning the Feb. 6 incident involving two Chinese language and Philippine coast guard vessels close to the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.

Responding to a query, Marcos mentioned he was involved that activating the 1951 treaty would ratchet up regional tensions.

Marcos spoke to reporters within the northern resort metropolis of Baguio the place he delivered a speech earlier than cadets and former graduates of the Philippine Army Academy and repeated a vow to defend the nation’s territory amid a brand new territorial spat with China.

“This nation is not going to lose one inch of its territory,” Marcos mentioned to applause. “We’ll proceed to uphold our territorial integrity and sovereignty in accordance with our structure and with worldwide regulation.”

“We’ll work with our neighbors to safe the protection and safety of our peoples,” Marcos mentioned with out elaborating.

Like his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos has taken steps to nurture pleasant ties with Beijing. He met Xi within the Chinese language capital early final month to spice up relations and talk about the Asian neighbors’ long-seething territorial disputes within the strategic waterway that additionally contain Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

China claims the South China Sea just about in its entirety, placing it on a collision course with different Asian claimants and individually with Washington, which lays no claims to the disputed sea however has deployed its Navy ships and fighter jets to patrol the waters, promote freedom of mobility and problem China’s territorial claims.

The contested waters have develop into a fragile entrance within the broader rivalry between the U.S. and China in Asia and elsewhere.

Within the newest flare-up, the Philippine authorities accused a Chinese language coast guard ship of beaming a high-grade laser to dam the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching the Philippine military-occupied Second Thomas Shoal. The Marcos administration despatched a strongly worded diplomatic protest to the Chinese language Embassy in Manila and Marcos summoned Chinese language Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday to precise his concern.

China responded by saying its coast guard ship used a hand-held laser and one other light-emitting gadget to harmlessly measure the space and pace of the Philippine vessel, which it claimed intruded into Chinese language territorial waters and was warned to go away the world.

However U.S. State Division spokesperson Ned Worth mentioned China’s “harmful operational conduct immediately threatens regional peace and safety, infringes upon freedom of navigation within the South China Sea as assured underneath worldwide regulation.”

Washington, he mentioned, was standing by its treaty ally Manila following the newest sea feud.

Worth renewed a warning that an armed assault on Philippine army forces, public vessels or plane, together with these of the coast guard within the South China Sea, would invoke U.S. mutual protection commitments underneath the 1951 treaty.

Australia, Japan, Canada, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom additionally expressed alarm following the Chinese language coast guard’s use of the military-grade laser towards the Philippine patrol vessel that they mentioned threatens regional peace and stability.