MANILA ¨C China¡¯s aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific is rooted in long-standing strategic ambitions independent of any U.S. policy, and the region¡¯s challenges stem from Beijing¡¯s own expansionist agenda, the Philippines¡¯ top defense official said on Wednesday.
The Philippines and China have had a series of run-ins and heated exchanges in the busy waterway of the South China Sea over the past two years, including an incident in June last year when a Philippine sailor lost a finger.
¡°The aggressiveness of China has been several years in the making,¡± Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore.
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