By Aaron Recuenco
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is pushing for an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) template of managing territorial dispute in the wake of overlapping maritime claims in the vast South China Sea, the Philippine side known as the West Philippine Sea.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE / MANILA BULLETIN)
By ASEAN template, Lorenzana refers to the peaceful dialogue and diplomatic negotiations that are spelled out by instituting “confidence-building measures” between and among the claimant –countries.
While pushing for this kind of template, Lorenzana said that no single military superpower should take control of the South China Sea since what is at stake is freedom of navigation and overflight in what he described as “global sea lines of communications” and “vital arteries of global trade.”
“The ASEAN, a disparate grouping of among the most diverse nations, stands as a proud and enduring example of willful, sincere, and successful inter-state conflict management, which has and should, serve as an inspiration across the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” said Lorenzana in his speech during a security summit in Singapore.
Aside from conflict-avoidance, Lorenzana said that another factor that makes the ASEAN template successful is the fidelity of the member-countries to international law and regional norms and principles.
Lorenzana cited for for instance the Ligatan and Sipadan dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia as well as the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over the areas surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple.
In the case of the Philippines, he cited the case of Sabah dispute with Malaysia.
“Instead of conflict, we have opted for various ‘confidence-building measures’ and cooperative mechanisms to resolve our disputes and address our shared concerns,” said Lorenzana.
An example of a successful confidence-building measure, he said, is how Malaysia and Thailand for instance agreed to have a joint development in the Gulf of Thailand.
Such joint development, according to Lorenzana, has allowed both nations to peacefully manage their overlapping maritime claims, or the multilateral Malacca Straits Sea Patrol (MSSP).
Another example is the Philippines and Indonesia consensus to settle their maritime border disputes in the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zone of the Mindanao and Celebes Seas, said Lorenzana.
The Philippine defense chief discussed the issue of peaceful territorial dispute amid China’s aggressive development and control in the South China Sea. China has already put up structures in some of the areas in the South China Sea and security experts said that China also started militarizing the area.
In various cases, China has warned aircraft and vessels of various countries passing through the South China Sea to go away, stressing that the area is a Chinese territory.
But Lorenzana said that no single military superpower should take control of the South China Sea.
“In the South China Sea, where the Philippines is a claimant state, we espouse a dialogue-based, peaceful, and multilateral approach, which takes the interest of all relevant players into consideration in accordance with international law and regional norms and principles,” said Lorenzana.
“As the ASEAN-China country coordinator, the Philippines believes that China as well as other claimant states should finalize a robust, mutually-beneficial and inclusive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, which would protect the interests of all relevant players as well as preserve freedom of navigation and overflight,” he added.
China, however, has repeatedly rejected the United Nations ruling that nullify its claim on almost the entire South China Sea.
The Philippines, under President Duterte, has been leaning toward friendly ties with China for the past three years which experts said would weaken the case won by the Philippines against China in the UN arbitral tribunal.