In light of recent hostile actions and intimidation by China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is of the opinion that a “paradigm shift” is necessary, considering that it is ignoring the conventional approaches to diplomacy.
“We have resorted to the traditional methods of diplomacy where, should there be an incident, we send a note verbal. Our embassy will send a démarche to the Foreign Affairs (Ministry) office in Beijing. But we have been doing this for many years now, with very little progress. We have todo something that we have not done before. We have to come up with a new concept, a new principle, a new idea so that we move, as I say, we move the needle the other way. It’s going up, let’s move the needle back, so that paradigm shift is something that we have to formulate,” Marcos said in a recent interview.
Marcos described the current diplomatic efforts with China as heading “in a poor direction.”
He pointed out that the situation in the WPS would not improve if the Philippines continues to deal with China the same way it was dealing with the current situation in the waters.
The Philippines had taken three legal steps such as filing a diplomatic protest with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoning Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian and making a “demarche to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials” to call out the China Coast Guard (CCG).
Chinese naval assets water cannoned Philippine vessels during a recent resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
Marcos said that the Philippines would continue talking to its partners in the Indo-Pacific Region and to “the rest of the world,” if necessary to de-escalate the tension in the WPS.
“We do not want to go the point where there are incidents that might cause an actual violent conflict. Maybe from a mistake or a misunderstanding and these things happen all the time. And so, we have, in my review, it’s time that the countries that feel that they have an involvement in this situation, we have to come up with a paradigm shift,” Marcos said.
Marcos stated that while there are many ideas, the government will continue to engage in discussions with its partners to develop a unified stance, clearly outlining their responsibilities regarding the West Philippine Sea.
“We have to bring all of those ideas together and to change the direction that these incidents have taken us. We have to stop going that way. We’ve gone down the wrong road. We have to disengage and find ourselves a more peaceful road to go down. We have, as I have said, the consensus that we must continue to promote peace, but we have to decide amongst ourselves what part each of us plays and what we can play, what we are willing to play. So, and put that – put all of those elements together so that we have a, so that we have a good plan that will take us as I’ve said, down, not the road to conflict, but down the road to peace,” Marcos said.
