United we stand, divided we fall.
This adage has been attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop.
But there’s a similar phrase in the Bible: “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
Of more recent vintage is Mao Zedong, who suggested a “united front” of social classes as part of the strategy to seize political power in China in 1949.
A united front strategy is precisely what the Philippines should adopt to counter China’s intimidation and bullying tactics in the West Philippine Sea where we have our Exclusive Economic Zone based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
That would be tantamount to turning Mao’s dictum on its head and using it to deter China from continuing its overly aggressive actions in the vital sealane.
The Philippines has already signed Visiting Forces Agreements with the United States and Australia.
This month, we begin negotiations for a possible VFA with France. If this military accord is signed, it would allow French forces to train with Filipino counterparts.
According to French ambassador to Manila Marie Fontanel, a defense committee meeting between the two countries will be held in Paris on the third week of May to discuss “how to proceed with negotiations” for the military accord.
This development comes close on the heels of the December 2023 meeting between Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu where they signed in Manila a letter of intent to bolster defense and security cooperation, which includes their “commitment to start negotiations for a VFA.”
The upcoming bilateral defense meeting in France is aimed precisely at making progress on bilateral cooperation.
The Marcos administration has been expanding maritime and defense security cooperation with allies amid increasing tensions with China in the South China Sea. Recently, the Philippines also signed separate defense cooperation agreements with Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Philippines is also negotiating a military access pact with Japan, called Reciprocal Access Agreement.
Once signed and ratified, the accord will allow more Japanese forces to join annual military exercises involving the Philippines and the US, including the large-scale “Balikatan” exercises, and allow Japanese forces to help provide humanitarian assistance faster in the future.
The Marcos Jr. administration is definitely on the right track in forging close alliances with friendly countries to counter-act China’s unfounded and totally insane claim over practically the whole South China Sea.