President hits China’s sea actions, gets Aussie, ASEAN backing
President Marcos on Monday vowed the Philippines would continue to engage and push back against China if the latter’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea persist.
“Our independent foreign policy compels us to cooperate with them on matters where our interests align, to respectfully disagree on areas where our views differ, and to push back when our sworn principles, such as our sovereignty, sovereign rights, and our jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea — are questioned or ignored,” President Marcos said in his keynote speech at the Lowy Institute forum in Melbourne.
The President also criticized China’s provocative and illegal actions despite an international arbitral ruling invalidating its massive nine-dash-line claim over the South China Sea.
“It is unfortunate that despite the clarity provided by international law, provocative, unilateral, and illegal actions continue to infringe upon our sovereignty, our sovereign rights, our jurisdictions,” the President said.
“This pattern of aggression obstructs our path towards ASEAN’s vision of the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and of prosperity,” he added.
Despite China’s aggressive actions, Mr. Marcos said the Philippines would remain committed to ensuring peace and peaceful settlement in the region through dialogue and diplomacy.
“We will continue to engage China, bilaterally and through ASEAN-led mechanisms, to address our differences at sea,” he said.
Mr. Marcos also called out those that are trying to simplify the situation as an offshoot of the rivalry between China and the United States.
“It obscures our judgment. It distracts us from calling out aggressive, unilateral, illegal, and unlawful actions for what they are: attacks against the rule of international law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” the President said.
“The future of this region will be shaped not by one or two, but by many actors, and they will each demand that their voices be heard, individually and collectively, as indeed they should be,” he added.
Leaders from Southeast Asian nations and Australia are gathered in Melbourne where they are expected to denounce the “threat or use of force” to settle disputes in the region, a collective swipe at China.
“We strive for a region where sovereignty and territorial integrity is respected,” a draft joint ASEAN-Australia statement obtained by Agence France-Presse read.
“We strive for a region where differences are managed throughespectful dialogue, not the threat or use of force.”
Territorial disputes in the vital trade corridor have escalated in recent months, with China baring its teeth in areas also claimed by ASEAN members such as the Philippines and Vietnam.
“We all have a responsibility to shape the region we want to share: peaceful, stable and prosperous,” said Australia’s Penny Wong, the host foreign minister.
“This is more important than ever with the region’s character under challenge,” she said.
“We face destabilizing, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarization of disputed features.”
Climate change also looms large on the agenda.
Southeast Asia’s hunger for energy is largely fed by fossil fuels, while Australia remains one of the world’s biggest exporters of gas and polluting thermal coal.
Both are increasingly eager to pivot toward renewable energy, making the most of natural blessings, such as bulging deposits of critical minerals.
“ASEAN countries need more energy if they are going to continue developing their economies,” said Rahman Yaacob, a regional analyst with Australia’s Lowy Institute.
“Australia could be a source of that energy.”
Indonesia and the Philippines are two of the world’s largest producers of nickel, a key ingredient in the production of batteries for electric cars.
Another key battery metal, lithium, is found in vast quantities scattered throughout Australia. With AFP