Critics should let President Rodrigo Duterte pursue his “careful, calibrated, and calculated foreign policy” amid China’s aggressions in the West Philippine Sea, the Palace said on Sunday.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario have appealed to Duterte to make bolder decisions against the East Asian giant as hundreds of Chinese ships crowd the West Philippine Sea since March.
According to Duterte’s spokesman, Carpio and del Rosario’s comments are not helpful to the country and the president.
“They should leave international relations to the one who has the foresight, information, and constitutional mandate to make sound foreign policy decisions,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
“They should let President Rodrigo Roa Duterte pursue his careful, calibrated, and calculated foreign policy,” Roque added.
The spokesman stressed that the chief executive must move by legal and diplomatic means, without picking a fight with other nations, especially China.
