Marcos: PH to continue pushing for peace in South China Sea

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Saturday said the Philippines will continue to counsel peace in the South China Sea, but at the same time forge strong alliances with other countries to maintain regional stability.

According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Marcos told Japanese media that a more assertive China posed a real challenge to its neighbors in Asia, which prompted the Philippines to seek new solutions.

He said that the Philippines will continue to forge strong alliances with “like-minded allies.”

“I’m afraid we’ll have to be able to say that tensions have increased rather than diminished for the past months or the past years and that’s why we have to— but we continue to counsel peace and continue communication between the different countries—everyone that is involved,” Marcos said in an interview while in Japan to attend the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Commemorative Summit.

“And this has become-– I sometimes say, and I think it still applies— the South China Sea situation is the most complex geopolitical challenge that the world faces,” he added.

Marcos said this following the attacks of Chinese vessels against Philippine vessels last week in the West Philippine Sea, which he said only 'steeled' the country’s determination to uphold its sovereignty within its territory.

However, with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Marcos stressed no country in the world wants to start a new conflict, particularly in Asia.

He said that new problems will now require new solutions, which the Philippines is open to.

“I cannot say that we have found the answer yet. We are still trying to formulate that answer as we speak. And things are moving very quickly in many parts of the China Sea and so there are changes in terms of approaches, [the aggravations],” he said.

Marcos said the increasing collaboration between the Philippines and Japan is a “very good example of evolution.”

He also admitted that the Philippines must get more of these kinds of arrangements, both multilateral and bilateral levels.

“This alliance that we have come together with Japan is again, is to show, to help us rather, work together more closely. Because in the military, since there is a tactical operation that we really have to train with one another,” he said. —KG, GMA Integrated News