Amid supposedly improved relations between Manila and Beijing, the Philippines again wakes up to a now all-too-familiar headline: Chinese forces driving Filipino fishermen away from the Spratlys. The Chinese Coast Guard reportedly fired warning shots to shoo Bataan fisherman away from Union Bank, a region in the West Philippine Sea where China had built artificial islands despite international outcry.
In a more recent encounter in the same region, Chinese forces stationed in Subi Reef challenged two Philippine planes carrying Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año as they flew near a Chinese man-made island. After being informed that they were flying over Philippine territory, the Chinese reportedly warned that their aircrafts were in the periphery of Chinese installations.
These developments, of course, are only the latest in what appears to be a vacillating relationship between the Asian neighbors. They undermine President Rodrigo Duterte’s much-publicized pivot to China, which has consequently imperiled its long-standing alliance with the United States. The episodes also put to question the soundness of what Malacañang routinely, proudly describes as the Duterte administration’s “independent foreign policy.”
Such claim to independence has long elicited suspicions, with pundits pointing out that it is a foolish expectation in light of a highly globalized world. Other more glaring repudiations come from Duterte himself, including his recent quips about selling Philippine-claimed islands to the Chinese.
But what has long been glaringly missing from Duterte’s approach to the West Philippine Sea problem is the potentially decisive role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which the country’s upcoming hosting of the group’s summit is helping bring to fore.
In terms of looking for long-term solutions to the territorial spat, the Philippines can take advantage of its chairmanship of the regional bloc, in addition to residual moral high ground from the favorable decision on its arbitration case against China last year. As a key player, the Philippines is in the best position to highlight the urgency of the issue as a political, economic, and security issue all at the same time.
Manila’s hosting of the Asean Summit thus represents an important opportunity for the Duterte administration. It can shelve its lukewarm reception to the 2016 Hague ruling and reaffirm its value by contextualizing it as a matter of regional security, in particular the rules-based order that Southeast Asia has long benefited from.
After all, as the recent episodes show, the Philippines is no stranger to the difficulties in the disputed waters, from Chinese vessels loitering in Benham Rise to the prospect of Chinese constructions on Scarborough Shoal.
A positive sign is Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Roberspierre Bolivar confirming that the maritime dispute is among the “important topics” that the Asean leaders will discuss. “The Asean would like to maintain its centrality as a force of peace and stability in the region,” he said. “All these issues that are causing tension right now will be discussed by the leaders.”
More broadly, the chairmanship will give the Philippines optimum leverage in terms of diplomatically working with its neighbors to ensure that such rules-based order succeeds. It will serve its cause to recall, for instance, how Asean and China in 2002 committed to a non-binding agreement on exercising self-restraint toward preventing and reducing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
Unfortunately, Beijing had chosen a unilateralist approach that recklessly violates the region’s common vision for stability. Thus, instead of a seemingly lax and arbitrary approach to such aggression, the Philippines must continue to work not only in upholding its sovereign rights and defending its national interests against unlawful action, but in actively leading a concerted regional effort toward strengthening multilateralism.
As things stand, a united Asean seems to be the only way to plausibly temper an aggressive giant.