Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Tuesday, September 24, expressed his belief that the Philippines entering into security agreements with its allies is an effective deterrence to the acts of aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Last July 8, the Philippines signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan in a bid to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation between the two countries. The government is also pursuing similar agreements with its other allies including Vietnam, France, and Germany.
“I believe these agreements—the RAA and similar agreements with our allies—will enable us to provide an effective deterrence while our military is not strong enough to provide that kind of deterrence,” the Senate President said during a forum with the international media on Tuesday.
The RAA with Japan has yet to be transmitted to the Senate for its concurrence, but as far as Escudero is concerned, he views the RAA and other similar treaties with the allies of the Philippines as “extremely important.”
For the Senate to concur with the ratification of the RAA within the year, Escudero said the Department of Foreign Affairs should already send the document because after October, the chamber will be focused on the plenary debates on the 2025 spending plan of the national government.
Escudero gave credit to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for bringing the matter of China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea to the international stage.
“The fact that there are a lot of countries speaking out against them (China) is actually serving as a deterrent, too. That is what I think the President was able to do successfully. He was able to bring world attention to this issue and to rally our allies and those similarly-minded states to support the Philippines in fighting against a bully in this particular region,” Escudero said.
“And he was able to make these states and governments understand that the West Philippine Sea is not isolated. It should be their concern as well. This should be elevated as one of their top concerns as well. That it is not only a problem of the Philippines. These agreements highlight the success of the President with respect to achieving this goal,” the Senate President added.
While the government is building up its security and defense alliances with its allies, Escudero said it is important that the country continues to engage with China.
“I don’t see any problem with engaging with China. We can agree to disagree. There is nothing wrong with engaging with China either on a one-on-one or on a regional setting. This can go on for the next 10, 20 years. But if engagement provides for an easier path toward peace, I will be willing to do that even if it takes 2,000 diplomatic protests to avoid war. I will be willing to do that,” Escudero said.
“Countries have their respective domestic audiences that they should cater to. China is no different. And the last thing you want is to lose face before that domestic audience. But on the reverse, the last thing you want is for the circumstances to force you to do something and entering into something like war simply because you wanted to save face. I think that is one thing that both governments know, should understand, and should respect and pursue,” he added.