MANILA, Philippines - China warned the Philippines on Wednesday that the 2 countries' territorial dispute over Scarborough shoal will get worse because of Manila's decision to buy weapons abroad.
China's Foreign Ministry, in a press statement published by state-owned China.org.cn, lashed out at the Philippines' impending acquisition of a second Hamilton class cutter from the United States, as well as President Benigno Aquino's plans to buy fighter jets for the the Philippine Air Force.
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary earlier said Manila will buy 12 patrol ships from Japan, aircraft from South Korea, as well as search and rescue ships from Australia.
China quoted Del Rosario as saying that the Philippines is getting the help of other countries to build a "minimum credible defense posture."
"The Philippine decision to draw a third party into the incident in any way will further escalate the situation and even change the nature of the issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
Beijing also quoted an official of China Institute of International Studies as saying that while the Philippines can buy weapons to improve its armed forces, it can't be compared to China's military.
"And with the Philippine economy performing worse since Aquino became president, the country will face rising financial dangers if it spends too much on its military, Qu said," according to China's Foreign Ministry.
'Philippines no match to China'
It said Major General Xu Yan, an official of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) National Defense University, sees the Philippines as no match to China even if Manila buys new weapons and equipment.
"Once (the Philippines) dares escalate the movements of maritime police into military operations, it will suffer a great calamity from China's strike in response to their attack," Xu said.
Xu added that China now has "a large batch" of large and advanced ships that can be immediately deployed to Scarborough shoal.
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