PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte, who left for New Delhi on Wednesday, said he would ask China if it could patrol the international waters near the Philippines, to help tackle terrorism and piracy, like what China did in Somalia.
We cannot afford to be absent. It’s all trade and commerce and everything else under the sun, except that we do not have the platform for terrorism and other problems of law and order,” Duterte said during the simple departure ceremony at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for the three-day India-Asean Summit in Delhi.
Duterte was referring to the Celebes and Sulu Sea and Moluccas seas, near the border of Indonesia where the number of piracy cases in Southeast Asia accounted for 71 percent of the global total.
In implying that Asean neighbors could not accomplish anything, “it is because the waters [are] contiguous to the archipelago of the Philippines [and are] getting to be dangerous. And yet it is only Indonesia who’s active there,” said Duterte who leads the 17-member Philippine delegation.
If we cannot do it, we’ll just have to call China to come in and blow them off just like Somalia, that Aden Strait there, were it not for the presence of the Chinese, piracy could not be checked there,” Duterte said.
So we have to come up with a platform of how to deal with terrorism. I go for a hardline policy. Blow them up in the high seas…Otherwise, if we do not do the extreme measures, we’d always be at the mercy of criminals,” the President said.
In 2016, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to conduct joint maritime operation in the three nations’ waters which have significantly reduced hijackings and kidnappings in the strait.
While admitting the situation was more complicated, the Philippines, Duterte said, would need everything, from fuel, manpower, the freight charges and the insurance.
The sea covers a much larger area, and the collective military capabilities of the three navies and coast guards failed to impress Duterte.
The Philippines is short of patrol vessels and aircraft, which explains the President plans to tap the help of China to fight terrorism and piracy near the country’s waters.
Before boarding the plane, Duterte said he might not attend a security meeting in Australia.
There’s an upcoming meeting in Australia. It’s all about security again. Let’s talk it over here. Let us talk what would be the platform that we will represent. Otherwise, I do not want to go to Australia,” he said.
He said “Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has always been asking me again and again if I can reconsider. So with an empty baggage there, we cannot end up something concrete, except that we talk all over again about cooperation and sharing of… [information].”
Duterte is joining other Southeast Asian leaders this week for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-India Commemorative Summit as India seeks stronger ties with its Asian neighbors.
Duterte, the former rotating chairman of the 10-member regional bloc, is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jan. 26 as the South Asian country celebrates its Republic Day. All heads of state of the 10 Asean member-states have been invited and they are all expected to come.
Despite his known aversion to making trips abroad, Duterte said he needed to push through with the trip as the Philippines would be the lone country not represented in the regional meet.
“The advice to me was I have to go because everyone will be there. We cannot afford to be absent,” Duterte told reporters at the airport.
The President was expected to speak in the plenary and retreat sessions on Jan. 25, the Foreign Affairs Department said earlier.
Modi, whom Duterte first met at the sidelines of the 31st Asean Summit in November 2017, is expected to follow up on the bilateral issues between the two countries, including ensuring the availability of cheap Indian-made medicines to the Philippines and further cooperation on defense, logistics, agriculture and micro, small and medium enterprises.
The Asean-India Commemorative Summit is also seen as an opportunity for Modi to implement his “Act East” foreign policy.
This policy seeks to increase India’s engagements with Southeast Asian countries to gain access to new markets. Modi had said India’s cooperation with the Asean was driven by “common priorities, bringing peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”
On Jan. 25, Duterte will be busy with the Asean-India special commemorative summit. He will then join India’s Republic Day parade in Chanakyapuri on Jan. 26.
Duterte is expected to return on Jan. 27.