China should start treating PH like a true friend

A CHINESE research vessel, Jiageng, was reportedly doing marine scientific research 52 nautical miles north northwest of Burgos, Ilocos Norte last week. That’s within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines and does not even fall within the ludicrous Chinese nine-dash-line claim over the South China Sea!

China professes to be our friend. But friends don’t do that — enter the EEZ of another without permission. Such action gives rise to misgivings about its true intentions.