Ramos: Philippines should stop US, China from warring
MANILA, Philippines - Former President Fidel Ramos on Monday said that the Philippines should use its position to prevent China and the United States (US) from starting a war.
Ramos stressed that the country should stop preparing for war and prepare for peace instead.
"We must play our role properly to prevent the Chinese and the Americans from warring against each other and we are in a beautiful position to do that because we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea which are the two greatest oceans of commerce," Ramos told Philstar.com in an interview.
The former president also recalled how he ordered the Western Command to act against China's activities in the Mischief Reef during his term.
"When the Chinese started to build around Mischief Reef even if we have very few military resources in the area I ordered the commander of the West Command... to remove all of the Chinese looking signs in our area and he did especially on the vicinity of Pag-asa Island in the Kalayaan Island Group," the former president said.
Ramos, however, noted that nobody wants a "World War III" and suggested that the Philippines should use its geostrategic position from preventing conflict in the region.
"Today, my humble position is that because nobody wants World War III anymore... Stop preparing for war, meaning no more military build-up. Start preparing for peace," Ramos said.
The former president said that the country could prevent conflict in the region by enhancing its maritime capability, including safety of life at sea, safety of open navigation, search and rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
"That is what we should do as a multinational coast guard task force in the Asia Pacific to begin with," Ramos said.
The Philippines recently filed a protest against China's test flights on the Kagitingan Reef in the West Philippine Sea. China, however, claimed that the Philippines' accusations were made with an "ulterior motive."
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama earlier said in his State of the Union address that the US should "set the rules" in the Asia-Pacific region and not China.
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