Duterte made the statement in reaction to reports that China would set up an environmental monitoring station on the Scarborough Shoal – also known as the Panatag Shoal – off the coast of Zambales province.

“We cannot stop China from doing those things. Even the Americans could not stop them,” he said during a press conference in Davao City shortly before flying to Myanmar for a state visit. “What do you want me to do? Declare war against China? I can’t. We will lose all our military and policemen tomorrow and we [will be] a destroyed nation.”

Duterte said he would tell the Chinese: “Just keep it [the waters] open and do not interfere with our Coast Guard.”

Benham Rise

He also brushed aside concerns over Chinese survey ships that had been seen near Benham Rise—resource-rich waters east of the main island of Luzon that were recognised by the United Nations as Philippine territory in 2012. 

Earlier this month, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he was very concerned that the Chinese ships had been seen at that location, sometimes for as long as a month.

But on Sunday Duterte said: “So what if they stop there? They admit it is within the territory of the Philippines. That does not satisfy you?” 

He described the complaints against China as “nit-picking.”

Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, had actively challenged China’s claim to control most of the South China Sea, despite counterclaims by several other nations.

But Duterte, who took office last year, has reversed that policy and was seeking billions of dollars worth of investments and grants from Beijing. “We are now improving the economy because of the help of China. Why will you be so shameless just because they are passing by?” he told reporters on Sunday.

Beijing has already reclaimed large areas around several islets and reefs in the Spratly Islands and elsewhere in the South China Sea, and installed military facilities on some of them.

Warning by analysts

However, analysts warned that China’s building on Scarborough Shoal would radically change the situation since it is just 230 kilometres (143 miles) from Luzon.

Outposts on the shoal would put Chinese jet fighters and missiles within easy striking distance of military bases in the Philippines, some of which could host US troops.

The shoal also commands the northeast exit of the sea, so a Chinese military outpost there could stop other countries’ navies from using the waters.

China seized the strategic shoal, which is also claimed by the Philippines, in 2012 and Washington has warned Beijing against carrying out the same land reclamation work there that it has done in other parts of the South China Sea.

Monitoring stations

Xiao Jie, the mayor of what Beijing calls Sansha City, an administrative base for disputed South China Sea islands and reefs it controls, said China planned preparatory work this year to build environmental monitoring stations on a number of islands, including Scarborough Shoal.

The monitoring stations, along with docks and other infrastructure, form part of island restoration and erosion prevention efforts planned for 2017, Xiao told the official Hainan Daily.

The report comes ahead of a visit to Beijing at the weekend by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, where he was expected to reiterate US concern about Chinese island building.

Tillerson has called the activity “illegal” and last June, then US Defence Secretary Ash Carter warned that any move by China to reclaim land at Scarborough Shoal would “result in actions being taken by the both United States and … by others in the region which would have the effect of not only increasing tensions, but isolating China.”

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