The Philippine set a good impression on Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė as she hailed the country’s “transparency initiative” in dealing with Chinese actions in the contested West Philippine Sea.

During a three-day visit to the Philippines, the official met with the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Philippines Navy (PN), from where she learned about the method that the Philippines had taken in response to China’s aggressive stance in the region.

“Transparency initiative by Philippines, documenting and reporting harassment cases by Chinese military against your fishermen, your peaceful fishermen, against your Navy ships, their aggressive acts from water cannons to ramming into your ships. It has become, in my opinion, the golden standard,” she told select members of the Philippine media, including from the Manila Bulletin, on July 2.

“How you can act when you don't really want to escalate, you just want to defend yourselves, but you want to stop the gaslighting by the aggressor, that we are peaceful, we are not doing anything, and et cetera. So as I said again, standing up for each other,” she added.

Noting that she was impressed by the initiative, the defense minister described it as “a wonderful solution, a wonderful, peaceful solution for a very non-peaceful action by your neighbor.”

She added that the initiative can also be “very useful globally” because it shows other countries that are facing the same political challenges what can be done.

In particular, Šakalienė said she was “very positively impressed by your Navy,” noting that the PN uses “practical data” in understanding the challenges that the country faces in the region.

“So, I think that also shows that your Navy are not only brave soldiers, but wonderful analysts, and I think that is very impressive,” she shared.

The minister also noted that the Philippines and Lithuania deal with similar issues in the critical underwater infrastructure in their territorial waters.

“Because we do have also very sensitive situation in the Baltic Sea, which reminds in many aspects what is happening in the West Philippine Sea, on the South China Sea, and also discussed certain solutions that we are discovering, and we are happy to share with our colleagues,” she furthered, adding that this is “one more way forward” to develop an agreement on exchange of classified information.

Her meetings with Philippine officials and agencies, Šakalienė stated, showed how countries, despite being miles apart, “have very similar threats and joint interests.”

“So, I'm very happy to – I'm very happy with the results of this meeting. And since I'm the first defense minister of Lithuania to ever visit Philippines, I'm hoping that this opens a new chapter in cooperation of Lithuania and Philippines,” she stressed.