It takes no small measure of courage and statesmanship to stand up to an economic and military powerhouse like China, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has done just that, in an appropriate setting.
That was during a high-level meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang together with other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in attendance.
What the President said in front of the Chinese leader must have been unexpected from the point of view of those in the meeting, but was in fact urgent and necessary given the simmering tension in the West Philippine Sea.
A Kyodo News report quoted Marcos as saying: “We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation… Parties must be earnestly open to seriously managing the differences and to reduce tensions.”
The President said China’s aggressive actions and intimidation of our Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the West Philippine Sea “demonstrates the continued disregard of international law and standards, particularly UNCLOS and the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.”
Moreover, he pointed out: “Such behavior is not unnoticed by our respective publics and the international community as well…and will require a concerted and urgent effort to adopt measures to prevent their recurrence.”
Amid the deadlock between the Philippines and China over maritime issues, Marcos also urged the regional bloc to speed up the drafting of a regional code of conduct, noting that negotiations for the long-sought pact to prevent confrontations in the disputed waters have been stalled over the years.
In the same meeting that was supposed to tackle trade relations between ASEAN and China, Marcos bluntly told the Chinese leader and those present: “You cannot separate economic cooperation from political security. “
Strong words, indeed, coming from the President, and showed that the Philippine government is resolute in defending our territorial and maritime rights in the South China Sea against China’s increasingly hostile behaviour in the vital sealane.
We have international law behind us, including the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Arbitral Tribunal favoring the Philippines in our maritime claim in our Exclusive Economic Zone under UNCLOS.
We’re glad that other ASEAN member-nations, such as Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand, have indicated support for our position that China should take the path of dialogue and negotiation and refrain from aggressive actions in the South China Sea amid competing territorial claims by other ASEAN members, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
The question now is: Will China listen to reason? Or will it continue to resort to gunboat diplomacy in the West Philippine Sea?
