Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Carpio said it is possible that China may interpret the decision of the Philippine government to repeal the military defense treaty with the United States as a green light to build a military base on the Scarborough Shoal.
Carpio is referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which is the legal basis for the presence of US forces in the country and their participation in military exercises.
GMA News reported that Carpio said the VFA allowed Americans to mark a boundary on Scarborough, to keep China away from the shoal.
“When they hold exercises here in Luzon, they would fire their HIMARS missile to show to the Chinese that from Luzon, ‘We can destroy whatever you build on Scarborough shoal’ and… it was a strong message to China,” Carpio told GMA News.
He also warned that China may build military bases in the shoal, which is only 124 nautical miles away from Luzon.
“When we told the Americans that we don’t need the VFA, then how can we tell them help us in Scarborough shoal when precisely it was the VFA that allowed them to send that signal to China?” Carpio said.
On the arguments that China was still able to set infrastructures despite the US-Philippine military treaty, Carpio said the Spratly Islands were not covered by the agreement.
President Rodrigo Duterte sought the abrogation of the VFA after the US government cancelled the visa of a close ally, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa over his alleged involvement in the war on drugs.
The VFA will be terminated 180 days after the notice was sent to the US government.
