Marcos Jr. challenges Chinese premier over intimidation

‘You cannot separate economic cooperation from political security’

VIENTIANE – President Marcos yesterday challenged Chinese Premier Li Qiang over recent acts of intimidation by Chinese coast guard and naval vessels in the South China Sea as fears mount that encounters at sea could turn deadly.

Marcos voiced his message at the meeting between Li and the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), after a day of discussions dominated by the Myanmar civil war.

Recent months have seen a spate of hostile actions by Chinese ships against Philippine vessels in waters around reefs and islands in the West Philippine Sea, which China claims as its own.

A Southeast Asian diplomat who attended the closed-door meeting told reporters that Marcos argued that “you cannot separate economic cooperation from political security.”

The summit with Li was largely focused on trade, and took place on the same day that he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said Beijing has agreed to lift sanctions on Australia’s lucrative lobster industry.

But Marcos reportedly said at the meeting that ASEAN and China cannot pretend that all is well on the economic front when there are tensions on the political front.

Marcos said “it is regrettable” that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains “tense and unchanged.”

“We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation,” Marcos said. “Parties must be earnestly open to seriously managing the differences and to reduce tensions.”

He reportedly raised at the meeting the issue of aggression and harassment by the China Coast Guard against Philippine vessels on routine maritime patrol in Escoda Shoal in August.

Escoda Shoal is located 75 nautical miles from the coastline of Palawan and is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

On three separate occasions, the CCG harassed Philippine vessels with blaring horns, used water cannons and rammed them, the President said.

Chinese naval vessels also harassed civilian fisheries vessels and aircraft using powerful lasers, he said.

Code of Conduct pushed

Marcos said ASEAN and China should hasten talks on a code of conduct for dealing with maritime issues.

“In our view, there should be more urgency in the pace of the negotiations of the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct,” the President stressed.

“It is time that we tackle these milestone issues directly so we can make substantive progress moving forward,” Chief Executive said.

Marcos emphasized that “core elements of the COC, such as the milestone issues of geographic scope, the relationship between the COC and DOC, and its legal nature to this day remain outstanding.”

The President was referring to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea or DOC, which does not provide sanctions and has failed to stop Chinese aggression at sea.

Since 2002, ASEAN has been seeking China’s consent to a binding COC in the South China Sea.

Citing an internal Philippine state document, Japanese news agency NHK said Marcos called on ASEAN member states “not to turn a blind eye to the aggressive, coercive, and illegal actions of an external power against an ASEAN member state.”

Sought for comment on the remarks he supposedly had delivered at the ASEAN Summit Retreat on Wednesday, Marcos said, “it is improper for me to disclose anything that was mentioned in closed session.”

“We leave it to the (ASEAN) chairman and his staff to decide what should be publicized,” Marcos told journalists in an ambush interview at the National Convention Center yesterday.

“Silence in the face of these violations diminishes ASEAN,” the report quoted Marcos as saying.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, who was with Marcos at the summit, said he could not confirm the report.

The Presidential Communications Office has not released an official copy of Marcos’ intervention during the ASEAN retreat session.

The growing frequency and intensity of clashes at sea are fuelling fears that the situation could escalate.

“The South China Sea is a live and immediate issue, with real risks of an accident spiralling into conflict,” Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told his fellow leaders on Wednesday.

Trillions of dollars in trade transits every year through the South China Sea.

Other ASEAN members – Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei – also have competing claims to various small islands and reefs.

And earlier this month, Vietnam issued an angry condemnation after some of its fishermen were attacked and robbed off the Paracel Islands by what it called “Chinese law enforcement forces.”

Beijing responded that the islands are its sovereign territory and its personnel were taking action to stop “illegal fishing” by the Vietnamese.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived yesterday and is expected to raise the South China Sea issue when he holds talks with ASEAN leaders today.

Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, accused China of taking “escalatory and irresponsible steps designed to coerce and pressure many in the South China Sea.”

China has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the South China Sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.

Transnational problems

In his remarks also yesterday, this time at the 27th ASEAN-Japan Summit, Marcos urged ASEAN member-states to step up efforts at addressing transnational problems that are increasing and threatening to undermine peace and stability in the region.

“The common problems in our region are increasingly transnational in nature. Unilateral actions in the East and in the South China Sea continue to undermine peace and stability in the region,” Marcos said.

“We, therefore, must remain steadfast in our responsibility, building on mutual trust, in upholding maritime security and cooperation, territorial integrity, disarmament, and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” the President said.

Marcos also thanked Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for supporting a rules-based Indo-Pacific region “that is free and open through shared fundamental principles in fostering peace, stability, and prosperity.”

He also commended Japan’s commitment to partnering for peace and stability through the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus.

ARF is a platform for security dialogues concerning the Indo-Pacific region. Established in 1994, the ARF comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, United States, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.

The  ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus is a dialogue platform for ASEAN and its eight Dialogue Partners or “Plus countries” Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.

Marcos said the Philippines co-chairs the ADMM Plus Experts’ Working Group on Maritime Security until 2027.

At the South Korea-ASEAN summit, also yesterday, Marcos reaffirmed the Philippines’ strong and steadfast support for lasting peace, security and stability in a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

With regard to trade, the President said a review and upgrade of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement must not only facilitate greater market access but should also foster a more inclusive and dynamic economic partnership.

Marcos Jr. thanks Trudeau, G7 support

Later yesterday on the sidelines of the summit, Marcos met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau where he asked for continuing support from the Group of Seven (G7) for the country’s position on the West Philippine Sea issue.

“And we look forward to your continuing support and your endorsement of our position in the G7 when you take the chair of G7. So, we look forward to that. Thank you very much,” Marcos told Trudeau during their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit here. Canada will host the G7 Summit next year.

Trudeau said the Philippines and Canada have been working together vigorously for regional security and safety, from fishing to military concerns.

“Kind of things stepping up. And we are happy to do it together in so many different ways,” he said.

Marcos said the Philippines is also very grateful for Canada’s continuing support for the rule of law.

“Not only in terms of expressions of support but also in terms of actual capacity building and making Canada’s presence felt in the Indo-Pacific region, most specifically in South China Sea,” Marcos said.

The leaders also cited the deeper people-to-people ties between the two nations.

“I can’t think of two countries with deeper people-to-people ties in a way we’ve been working together over the past years on bringing them together even more, on growing the economy, and creating opportunities,” Trudeau said.

For his part, Marcos said “people-to-people exchanges have grown into much more than that.”  - AFP