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Locsin won't protest China's coast guard law before UN

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<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1615888" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>MANILA (<strong>UPDATE</strong>) - Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., rejected Monday a proposal to bring the Philippines&#x27; protest against China&#x27;s new coast guard law before the United Nations.</p><p>Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had said the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries should ask a UN tribunal to declare it as void under international laws. </p><p>&quot;No. Everybody wants to enter a show. Everybody wants to show up at the United Nations. Well, I’m not going to go back there because the Coast Guard Law has some claims as to the extent of their territory. That will reopen the arbitral ruling and I’m not going to give them a chance to do that,&quot; Locsin told ANC&#x27;s Headstart.</p><p>&quot;Chinese diplomacy has been very effective in most of the members of the United Nations and I’m not going to throw our victory to that and let them decide,&quot; he said.</p><p>He also criticized members of the opposition &quot;who want to run for office and want to show off at the United Nations and defend us.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Please, there’s nothing to defend, we already won. Tama na (That&#x27;s enough)... Don’t throw it away because you’re desperate for publicity,&quot; he said.</p><p>Last month, Locsin filed a diplomatic protest against the law, which lets its coast guard fire on foreign vessels in waters &quot;under China&#x27;s jurisdiction.&quot; He said enacting this &quot;is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law; which, if unchallenged, is submission to it.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/27/21/philippines-protests-china-green-light-for-its-coast-guard-fire-on-foreign-vessels">Philippines protests China green light for its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels</a></li></ul><p>The Chinese Embassy in Manila said the law was a &quot;normal domestic legislative activity of China.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/03/21/chinese-embassy-tells-manila-not-to-worry-about-coast-guard-license-to-fire">Chinese Embassy tells Manila not to worry about Coast Guard license to fire</a></li></ul><p>In an opinion column, former magistrate Carpio, who was instrumental in the Manila&#x27;s win at The Hague, said Beijing&#x27;s law poses &quot;a grave threat to world peace&quot; and if it is allowed to stand, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the UN Charter &quot;will no longer apply in the South China Sea and even in the East China Sea.&quot;</p><p>&quot;In the case of the Coast Guard Law, if we do not assume the worst and file a diplomatic protest on that basis, that is submission and I will not allow that,&quot; Locsin said in the interview.</p><p>&quot;Once we start reading and trying to understand them in that sense, of taking in that text and trying to see if we can live with it, I think we have lost,&quot; he said.</p><p>Locsin said while there had been no incident just yet, should one arise, &quot;it will be more than just a protest.&quot;</p><p>More than 4 years since it was handed down, China still refuses to recognize the UN-backed arbitration ruling that invalidated its territorial claims based on the nine-dash line. It insists on its claim in almost the entire South China Sea, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Vietnam.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/12/16/intl-court-backs-ph-on-dispute-vs-china">Int&#x27;l court backs PH on dispute vs China</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UVdgzmaHdJw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr., on Monday said he is opposed to the suggestion to bring the Philippines' protest against China's new coast guard law before the United Nations.</p>

Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr., on Monday said he is opposed to the suggestion to bring the Philippines' protest against China's new coast guard law before the United Nations.