BENGALURU, India — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines should not be a dumping ground for rocket debris while saying that China is free to retrieve the fragments, parts of the Chinese space rocket “March 12” that fell near Palawan.

Marcos said he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the matter and offered the assistance of the Philippines in rocket launches.

“I remember on my trip to Beijing early on that I told President Xi, you know, we have no interest in your rockets. Just let us know where they will land, and we will collect them and give them to you. And that continues to be my offer to China. There’s no need to take it from us,” he said.

Marcos said a little warning to the Philippines would help the country respond in case of debris landing within the Philippines.

“What are we going to do with the [rocket]. Tell us where the rocket will go. If something falls, we’ll pick it up at sea and bring it to you. No problem,” he said.

Marcos said this was not the first time it happened, and thankfully, there were no casualties.

“Well, it’s not the first time that this has happened. If you look at the incidents, they did not commit any violations. There have been no casualties. We just wish that perhaps they could warn us a little earlier so that we know the path of the rocket, where the path is, and (if they let out stages of separation,” he added.

WPS stance:

‘No shift in tone’

Meanwhile, there has been no change in the Philippines’ position on defending its territorial sovereignty, particularly in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

In a recent episode of the BBM podcast aired on Friday evening, Marcos addressed questions regarding what some observers perceived as a shift in tone in his recent statements on the WPS.

He responded to comparisons between his strong statements in 2022 — “Not an inch of our territory will be abandoned” — and the more diplomatic language used in his latest State of the Nation Address where he emphasized that the Philippines is “a friend to all and an enemy to none.”

“There was no shift in tone,” Marcos asserted.

“Continuing to strongly defend our territory is not mutually exclusive from being a friend to all and an enemy of none,” he said.

He stressed that the Philippines is not antagonizing any country but remains firm in defending its sovereignty.