MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines looks to deepening its engagement with the European Union (EU) on security and defense issues, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said yesterday.
Speaking at the EU ministerial forum and the emergence of the EU’s strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in Paris, Locsin cited the role of EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in maintaining peace and security in the region.
“Today’s Ministerial Forum and the emergence of the EU’s Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific affirm what I have long held true: the future will be determined by the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
“In that arena – with its diversity and wide geographical reach – multilateralism is imperative,” he added.
For the Philippines, the ASEAN and ASEAN Centrality are the core of that multilateral order, he said.
The ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific’s principles of inclusiveness, openness, cooperation and consensus-building and respect for international law toward regional cooperation are the association’s guideposts, while the ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asian Summit are its platforms for dialogue and action, Locsin said.
He stressed that “there is only one way to secure and defend the region’s freedom and independence: that is to be stronger, and there is only one way to grow our collective strength and ensure a successful outcome, that is with dependable alliances that share our vital interests.”
“We value the clarity given by the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy on enhancing EU’s role in preserving a peaceful and thriving Indo-Pacific by promoting an open and rules-based regional security architecture, and by being there for us as we would be for it,” he said.
The country’s top diplomat said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the anchor of rules-based regional security architecture and the international legal framework under which all activities in oceans and seas must be carried out.
“The 2016 Arbitral Award is our contribution to the strengthening of the legal order over the seas. It benefits all across the board,” Locsin said.
The Philippines, he said, welcomed the EU’s principled statement that “what happens in the South China Sea matters to the EU, ASEAN and the whole world.”
The Philippines aspires for a South China Sea of peace, equality, mutual security, stability and prosperity as the Code of Conduct (COC) currently under negotiations will contribute to that, Locsin said.
“But we want to see the COC as what it has to be: an agreement to act in a certain manner that does not give prominence or special status to any of its parties nor carves out a special regime apart from UNCLOS; and respects the rights of all powers in the world, including freedom of navigation. Otherwise we will reject it as a self-serving Code of Exclusion,” he added.
United ASEAN
Meanwhile, the Philippines called on the ASEAN to remain united in pushing for peace in the South China Sea as Manila reminded that a COC should not exclude any country or power in the world.
“We want an early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea that excludes no country or power in the rest of the world… We appreciate initiatives to finally advance the negotiations beyond the provisional approval of the Preamble,” Locsin said.
He highlighted the Philippines’ priorities on maritime security cooperation in ASEAN during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Feb. 17.
During the first meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers for the year, under Cambodia’s chairmanship, Locsin spoke on priorities highlighting maritime security cooperation as a key interest for the Philippines, owing to its being an archipelagic state.
He also said the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea this year should be commemorated in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the 1982 UNCLOS, as “the two landmark documents are fundamentally and inextricably linked.”