Defense and security experts, including former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff of chief Emmanuel Bautista, are seeking for broader international support for the Philippines amid China’s increased aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
In a closed-door forum organized by the international think tank Stratbase on Thursday, April 18, the existing situation and exploration of solutions on the issue of West Philippine Sea were discussed by incumbent and former government officials, members of the diplomatic community, scholars, and policy experts.
In his presentation, Bautista recalled that only 21 countries expressed support for the Philippines when the Chinese Coast Guard once again fired water cannons against a resupply boat en route to Ayungin Shoal in March.
“We saw 21 countries support us in that incident but these are just 21 countries. There are over 100 countries around the world. And note that the 21 countries we're talking about, none of them are Southeast Asian countries, which are the most important,” said Bautista a two-day forum titled “The West Philippine Sea as Ground Zero of Emerging Risks and Opportunities” in partnership with United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
“We hope more will speak out. We hope, especially, that our brothers in Southeast Asia will also speak out,” he added.
Bautista acknowledged that there is no enforcement mechanism for the 2016 arbitral ruling that recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights to areas within its exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
“But if all of us speak out, I mean the international community, then that will result in social pressure on any errant state,” said Bautista.
In his opening statement, Stratbase Institute President Dindo Manhit condemned China’s gray zone tactics which “seek to destabilize a rules-based international order.”
“Our country continues to encounter such attacks in the West Philippine Sea in the form of shadowing, blocking, swarming strategies, laser incidents, water cannons, and even intentional collision incidents,” Manhit said.
“I don’t see risk, I see opportunities for the Filipino nation. But it takes a whole of Philippine society approach. It takes the Philippines as a whole talking with the international community,” he stressed.
Brian Harding, USIP’s senior expert on Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, noted how the situation in the West Philippine Sea “escalated” over the last few months but stressed that the Philippines’ position is “much stronger than it was.”
“Certainly, the US-Philippines alliance has continued to build and deepen. There's much more trust and I think this trilateral relationship, it's pretty extraordinary – how this US-Japan-Philippines trilateral has come together,” Harding said.
He was referring to the April 12 trilateral summit where the three countries announced a stronger alliance.
USIP senior program analyst Rosie Levine highlighted new developments in joint patrols, like the one conducted by the Philippines, US, Japan, and Australia this month.
“This deterrence architecture that's really meant to send the signal to China in a coordinated way that the Philippines isn't alone… This is a united approach. It’s going to be much harder to pressure any individual actor as long as that architecture is in place,” Levine said.
Transparency strategy
China has maintained its posture as the “Goliath” in contested waters, said Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, who also serves as spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea.
“What’s the weakness of Goliath?” Tarriela asked.
“They never really wanted the international community to be aware of whatever provocative actions, bullying behavior, illegal presence that they do,” he said.
Tarriela explained that transparency has been the Philippines’ response under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s term, rallying the support of both the Filipino people and the international community in the process.
“How can you be able to gain support from the international community to support the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the capacity-building of the Coast Guard if you do not even expose the problems that you are experiencing with the Chinese government,” Tarriela said.
Still, he clarified that transparency is not an end-all strategy.
“Our president still has a diplomatic channel for talking to China. We didn't close our diplomatic relationship with them. There are still a lot of national instruments that he can be able to make use of,” Tarriela said.
Moving forward
The Philippines recently announced the implementation of a Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, shifting focus from internal to external security, Philippine Navy spokesperson Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said.
“That will allow us to preserve, secure, and protect all that is ours,” he said.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla-Taborlupa said the country is also beefing up military bases in strategic points and improving the rotation and resupply missions’ operational mix moving forward.
“We'd like to emphasize that with whatever the Armed Forces are having actions in terms of our core missions in this West Philippine issue, we always have that foundation that we have the law on our side,” Taborlupa said.
“So we have to be the bigger person, we have to be the gentleman in the room and you know, exercise all restraint, because we know that the support of the international community and the international laws is on the Philippines’ side,” said Taborlupa.