The Philippines' Arbitral win in its maritime dispute in 2016 over China is the country's contribution in boosting the legal order over the seas.
This was highlighted by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. during the European Union (EU) Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific as he affirmed the Philippines' commitment to deepen its engagement with the EU on security and defense.
"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 in his remark during the forum held on Feb. 22.
"We therefore welcomed the EU’s principled statement on the 5th Anniversary of the Award, that 'what happens in the South China Sea matters to the EU, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the whole world.' Finally, we are not alone in what we alone fought for and won," Locsin added.
The Philippines' top diplomat expressed that the country values "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 that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the anchor of that rules-based regional security architecture.
Locsin said the Philippines is one with the region in aspiring for "a South China Sea of peace, equality, mutual security, stability and prosperity." With this, he also underscored that the Code of Conduct (COC), which is currently under negotiation, will contribute to that.
"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," Locsin said.
The Foreign Affairs chief also committed to advance shared maritime cooperation, connectivity, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate action and economic cooperation, and mutual cultural enrichment.
He stressed that "the future will be determined by the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific."
"In that arena – with its diversity and wide geographical reach-— multilateralism is imperative. For the Philippines, ASEAN and “ASEAN Centrality” are the core of that multilateral order. The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’s principles of inclusiveness, openness, cooperation and consensus-building; and respect for international law towards regional cooperation are ASEAN’s guideposts. ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asian Summit are its platforms for dialogue and action," he said.
Locsin further said the ASEAN and EU must put themselves in the other's shoes and walk around in them because that's the only way to know why their respective directions.
"It won’t be smooth; there will be missteps. And both sides have to realize it will have to be give and take. And there must be transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making. With the same comparative advantages, one of us has to make room for the other or even replace the other altogether," Locsin said as he concluded his speech.