MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III clarified that the Philippines does not have intentions of arming itself despite rising tensions in the disputed South China Sea.
China has been building artificial islands in the Spratly Group of Islands in the disputed sea.
"We have zero ambitions in terms of arming ourselves with our own weapons of mass destruction; we have no plans of trying to come up with some sort of deterrents against the military might of that superpower," Aquino said in his speech before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on Tuesday.
Aquino added that the Philippines sought a legal and peaceful resolution on the maritime dispute against China given its limited resources.
Manila earlier filed an arbitration case against Beijing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, questioning the latter's nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea.
"In other words, in the classic argument of guns versus butter, we would rather spend our limited resources on the butter side of that equation. Yet, like all nations, we need to defend our rights," the president said.
The president expressed his hope that the arbitral tribunal will rule in favor of the Philippines and that China will adhere to the ruling.
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"Given enough time and sensibilities to the Asian concept of 'losing face' perhaps we can get them to be more reasonable in their actions towards the smaller countries around the periphery of the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea," Aquino said.
Aquino, US President Barack Obama and other Southeast Asian leaders earlier issued a joint declaration expressing their commitment to keeping peace in the disputed sea following the US-ASEAN Leaders Summit in California.
The leaders agreed to respect the sovereignty of each nation and abide by the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.