‘A peaceful South China Sea is essential to its protection and sustainable management.’
THE Philippines, speaking through Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., became an ardent advocate of peace as the primordial objective among nations especially in the Asian region.
The occasion for Locsin to perorate about peace was at the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – China Post Ministerial Meeting where senior ministers from the regional bloc interacted with Chinese Foreign Minister and State Counselor Wang Yi on various issues ranging from security, economic, political, and on COVID-19 response in the region.
First, Secretary Locsin touts the Philippine position that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully through the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and in the 2016 Arbitral Award on the arbitration case filed by the Philippines before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
Before his colleagues in ASEAN and the Chinese foreign minister, Locsin issued one of the most edifying statements yet about the Philippines’ claim in the South China Sea (SCS).
He said: “A peaceful South China Sea is essential to its protection and sustainable management. Disputes in it should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS and in the recent light of the 2016 Arbitral Award which singles out no one, was carefully crafted as to be unusable as a weapon for disputation; and most helpful in clarifying maritime issues.”
Secretary Locsin noted that even Europeans are now invoking the award which was the result of a petition filed by the Philippines before the UN-backed arbitration court that sought to invalidate China’s aggressive nine-dash-line territorial claim in the SCS.
The second peaceful initiative pushed by Locsin is about Myanmar, which he called as a “sad land” because the people continue to oppose military rule.
“We remain deeply concerned over developments in Myanmar. The Five-Point Consensus must be swiftly implemented. The Chair’s Special Envoy should be allowed to begin work so unhindered humanitarian assistance be provided,” Locsin proposed.
The DFA head also reiterated the call for the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi, other political detainees and her foreign adviser.
Locsin’s recent statements flesh out the Duterte administration’s independent foreign policy and the principle of “Friend to All.”