The Philippines on Thursday rejected anew the call by China to return to the United States its mid-range Typhon missile system.

National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson and Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya stressed the Philippines has the “sovereign and inherent right to upgrade its defense capabilities with opportunities it deems appropriate.”

Malaya said the Typhon missile system “is deployed only for defense purposes and will only be used in this manner.”

“We refute the assertion that the Typhon missile system will endanger the region. We strictly adhere to the provisions of the Constitution that the Philippines can neither employ the use of nuclear weapons nor engage in offensive war,” he added.

China has been demanding the removal of the missile system, insisting that the deployment of the US military asset in the Philippines “induces an arms race and provokes instability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

“It is in the same spirit that we had not commented previously on China’s ever-rising missile inventory, which is the actual threat to regional stability,” Malaya said.

Position on missiles unchanged

Meanwhile, Malacañang reiterated the position of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regarding the missile system.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said Marcos’s position on the Typhon remained unchanged.

“He has demands – if China wants to make demands, we have a counter demand — our stance is still the same, the President’s stance is still the same,” Castro said.

Earlier, Marcos said he was willing to return the Typhon missile system to the US but only if China would stop its harassment, boat-ramming, and other aggressive actions towards Philippine security personnel and fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.

The military alliance between the Philippines and the United States dates back to the signing of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), which commits both nations to come to each other’s aid in case of an armed attack.

The alliance was further strengthened with the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1998 and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in 2014.

EDCA allows the US military to preposition defense assets and rotate its forces through nine Philippine bases strategically located across the country.

The annual Balikatan exercises between the US and Philippine armed forces improve their interoperability and readiness in addressing regional security threats, including external aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have remained high due to Beijing’s expansive claims over the South China Sea, including areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) known as the West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China’s so-called “nine-dash line” and affirming the country’s sovereign rights over its EEZ.

China has refused to recognize the ruling and has continued its militarization and aggression in the disputed waters.