Explained: Why the Philippines and India are strengthening ties
NEW DELHI, India — Although the Philippines and India are thousands of kilometers apart, the two countries face common challenges in several key areas.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. traveled to India in his first-ever state visit to the country on Monday, August 4, and is set to return to the Philippines on August 8.
This marks one of President Marcos’ longest overseas trips. He is also accompanied by one of his largest delegations to date, with at least 10 Cabinet secretaries seen traveling with him, nearly half of his Cabinet. The visit appears to carry high stakes, as it is also the first time in 18 years that a Philippine president has traveled to India.
While the trip has multiple objectives, ranging from diplomatic to economic, Marcos earlier said that peacekeeping efforts in the Indo-Pacific have brought the two countries closer together.
“Our geostrategic position as coastal states that border the busiest international trade routes and critical sea lines of communication in the Indo-Pacific region, our shared interest in protecting the rights and welfare of our international seafarers, our steadfastness in upholding international maritime law, including UNCLOS and the 2016 Arbitral Award, and our unwavering commitment to regional peace and cooperation, serve as credible foundations of our active and growing maritime cooperation,” Marcos said in his departure statement in the Philippines.
As with most countries, there is a Filipino community in India. President Marcos met with Filipinos in New Delhi, where he announced that he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a “strategic partnership.”
The president did not go into specifics but said that Philippine-India relations will “intensify further” in several areas, including defense.
Lending weight to the Philippines’ intent to strengthen defense ties with India is the presence of Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro in Marcos’ delegation, one of the administration’s staunchest critics of China.
The most immediate question seems to be: why? After all, the Philippines and India are geographically far apart.
But a quick look at both countries' geopolitical realities reveals a major shared factor: the sovereignty of both the Philippines and India has been challenged by China.
India shares a land border with China, and the two countries have had multiple skirmishes in the past, some of them deadly. In 2020, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops at the disputed Galwan Valley. China later confirmed that four of its soldiers also died in the same incident.
On the Philippines’ side, tensions with China over the West Philippine Sea have been ongoing for years. These have intensified under President Marcos, whose policy on the disputed waters marks a significant shift from that of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
From having “agreements” with China over the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines has since reasserted its territorial claims and is now actively building alliances around the world.
While the Philippines has been a longtime ally of the United States, its only treaty partner, uncertainty grew during the term of US President Donald Trump. Although his administration reaffirmed its defense commitments to the Philippines, Trump had a reputation for abruptly shifting positions.
The Philippines has already acquired defense equipment from India, and both Manila and New Delhi have conducted joint maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea.
But what does India stand to gain from a defense partnership with the Philippines? India has an “Act East Policy” under Modi, wherein it is bolstering ties with Southeast Asian nations to increase its power to meet China’s influence. This project is a successor to India’s longstanding efforts to increase its regional influence.
The string of pearls is China’s strategy to increase military and commercial influence in the areas close to India, according to the Indian think tank Swadeshi Shodh Sansthan.
As the Indian think tank puts it, New Delhi wants to establish a “necklace of diamonds” to counter Beijing’s “string of pearls”.
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