Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Facebook)

A ranking congressman has criticized Russia for helping China block a draft statement by Southeast Asian Nations expressing concern on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea (WPS). 

"Russia should not have blocked the ASEAN statement. Moscow has no business meddling in disputes in this part of our region,” Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez 

The statement was to be presented at last week’s East Asia Summit in Laos, which 18 regional leaders, including those from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), attended. 

Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, claimed that Russia’s decision to help China junk ASEAN’s expression of concern “was motivated only by self-interest". 

“Its an expression of gratitude to Beijing over the latter’s support for the illegal and unjustified ‘military operation’ of Russia in Ukraine, and the continued killing of Ukrainian civilians,” he said. 

The Mindanaoan added that by helping China block the ASEAN statement, Russia expressed its approval of Chinese intrusion into Philippine waters and its aggressive activities in the disputed areas, including its bullying, harassment and ramming of Philippine vessels, their crew and Filipino fishermen. 

The blocking of the ASEAN expression of concern prompted Laos, which chaired the East Asia Summit, to issue a unilateral statement on the conference. 

Meanwhile, Romualdez lauded President Marcos for challenging Chinese Premier Li Qiang over recent clashes between Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and Philippine vessels in waters that are within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Rodriguez thanked the Filipino leader for consistently upholding the country’s territorial and sovereign rights over the WPS. 

Li reportedly wanted discussions limited to economic issues during a meeting with ASEAN leaders in the course of the summit in Laos. 

But President Marcos boldly told him that economic and political issues are interconnected, and that China could not pretend that all is well on the economic front while there are tensions on the political and security front. 

Several summit attendees, including the United States (US), Australia and Singapore, have expressed support for the ASEAN statement and the Philippine position on regional security concerns. 

“The South China Sea is a live and immediate issue, with real risks of an accident spiraling into conflict,” Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told his fellow leaders attending the summit.