THE Philippines will continue to forge strong alliances to ensure stability in the region amid a more assertive China, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to be able to say that tensions have increased rather than diminished for the past months or the past years, and that’s why we continue to counsel peace and continue communication between the different countries—everyone that is involved,” Marcos said in an interview with Japanese media on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit in Tokyo.
“And this has become—I sometimes say, and I think it still applies—the South China Sea situation is the most complex geopolitical challenge that the world faces,” he added.
The Philippines and China have a long history of maritime incidents in the contested South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars of trade pass annually.
That is despite the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in 2016 that China’s claims over the waters have no legal basis and that its construction of artificial islands in disputed waters was illegal.
Beijing refused to take part in the proceedings and has ignored the judgment.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also have claims to the sea.
Marcos said no country in the world wants to start a new conflict, especially in Asia, and the Philippines is always open to the idea of finding “new solutions.”
“I cannot say that we have found the answer yet. We are still trying to formulate that answer as we speak. And things are moving very quickly in many parts of the China Sea, so there are changes in terms of approaches [the aggravations],” he said.
The President also discussed the increasing collaboration between the Philippines and Japan, saying it is a “very good example of evolution.”
“This alliance that we have come together with Japan is again to show, to help us rather, to work together more closely. Because in the military, since there is a tactical operation, we really have to train with one another,” Marcos told reporters.
“I think that really is the pattern that we are seeing emerge, and that is how we are evolving. And that is a very good example of evolution,” he said.
