MANILA: A prominent Philippine senator has created a stir by saying on social media she has knowledge of a Chinese plan to target her country with hypersonic missiles, though the National Security Council said it was unaware of any such security threat.
Senator Imee Marcos, the sister of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and head of the Senate foreign relations committee, made her claim in a short video that has so far had more than 900,000 views on TikTok and over 100,000 on Facebook.
China’s defence and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the video, which Imee Marcos posted on Tuesday (Jul 2) as the Philippines and China held talks on their South China Sea territorial dispute.
In her video, Marcos said China had set 25 targets around the Philippine archipelago that it would attack with hypersonic missiles, and the northern Batanes islands, close to Taiwan, would be among the first targets.
Marcos provided no evidence to support her claim, which she made as part of an argument that her brother’s closer ties with the United States have made China see the Philippines as a threat. Reuters could not verify her claim.
“Let’s admit the problem: That China thinks we have sided with their enemy,” she said in her video.
“As tensions escalate in the West Philippine Sea, I saw a Chinese plan that they will use a hypersonic missile,” she said, without saying where she got the information. The West Philippine Sea refers to waters within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
Marcos opposes some of her brother’s policies regarding China, including his decision to grant the US expanded access to Philippine military facilities it can use, including those facing Taiwan and the South China Sea.
The Philippines National Security Council said it would ask Marcos for more information about her statement, with spokesman Jonathan Malaya saying in a message it was “not aware of any of the security threats she mentioned”.
