Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Philippines “cannot yield” in territorial disputes, President Ferdinand Marcos said on Monday, after a series of escalating confrontations with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Manila is locked in a longstanding territorial row with Beijing over parts of the strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars worth of trade passes annually.

Without naming China, Mr. Marcos said the Philippines would continue to “find ways to de-escalate tensions in contested areas… without compromising our position and our principles”. “The Philippines cannot yield. The Philippines cannot waver,” Mr. Marcos said in his annual State of the Nation adddress to Congress.

His remarks came after the Philippines and China agreed to a “provisional arrangement” for resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the focus of violent clashes in recent months.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea. 

Ties with China

Philippine relations with China have been turbulent since Mr. Marcos took office in 2022 vowing to defend his country’s claims to the South China Sea.

A series of clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels at flashpoint reefs have fuelled fears of a conflict that could drag in the U.S. owing to its mutual defence treaty with Manila.

Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara (centre) delivers his statement with Philippines’ Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.,(not in picture) during a meeting to discuss bilateral ties and defence, as well as regional security, in Philippines, on July 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Japan and the Philippines signed a key defence pact on July 8 allowing the deployment of Japanese forces for joint military exercises, including live-fire drills, to the Southeast Asian nation that came under brutal Japanese occupation in World War II but is now building an alliance with Tokyo as they face an increasingly assertive China.

“The Reciprocal Access Agreement, which similarly allows Filipino forces to enter Japan for joint combat training, was signed by Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in a Manila ceremony witnessed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It would take effect after ratification by the countries’ legislatures,” Philippine and Japanese officials said.

Mr. Kamikawa called the signing of the defence agreement “a groundbreaking achievement” that should further boost defense cooperation between Japan and the Philippines.

“A free and open international order based on the rule of law is the foundation of regional peace and prosperity,” she said. “We would like to work closely with your country to maintain and strengthen this.”

Mr. Kamikawa and Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara later held talks with their Philippine counterparts on ways to further deepen relations. The defence pact with the Philippines is the first to be forged by Japan in Asia. Japan signed similar accords with Australia in 2022 and with Britain in 2023.

Under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the Japanese government has taken steps to boost its security and defensive firepower, including a counterstrike capability that breaks from Japan’s postwar principle of focussing only on self-defence, amid threats from North Korea and China’s growing assertiveness. It’s doubling defense spending in a five-year period to 2027 in a move to bolster its military power and make Japan the world’s third-biggest military spender after the United States and China.

Many of Japan’s Asian neighbours, including the Philippines, came under Japanese aggression until its defeat in World War II and Japan’s efforts to bolster its military role and spending could be a sensitive issue. Japan and the Philippines, however, have steadily deepened defence and security ties.

Mr. Kishida’s moves dovetail with Mr. Marcos’ effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend Manila’s territorial interests in the South China Sea. The busy sea passage is a key global trade route which has been claimed virtually in its entirety by China but also contested in part by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

The United States has also been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan, and reassure its Asian allies. Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the U.S. and their leaders held three-way talks in April at the White House, where President Joe Biden renewed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to defend Japan and the Philippines.

Japan has had a longstanding territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea. Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships, meanwhile, have been involved in a series of tense confrontations in the South China Sea since last year.

In the worst confrontation so far, Chinese coast guard personnel armed with knives, spears and an axe aboard motorboats repeatedly rammed and destroyed two Philippine navy supply vessels on June 17 in a chaotic faceoff in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal that injured several Filipino sailors. Chinese coast guard personnel seized seven navy rifles.

The Philippines strongly protested the Chinese coast guard’s actions and demanded $1 million for the damage and the return of the rifles. China accused the Philippines of instigating the violence, saying the Filipino sailors strayed into what it called Chinese territorial waters despite warnings.

Japan and the United States were among the first to express alarm over the Chinese actions and call on Beijing to abide by international laws. Washington is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

A file photo of Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said on Wednesday that he sees Chinese actions in the South China Sea with “great alarm”, after recent confrontations described by a Filipino military commander as “the worst” in two years.

The latest incidents involving Philippine and Chinese vessels took place on Tuesday in waters around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands where the countries have contested maritime claims.

Manila said that China Coast Guard ships caused two collisions with Philippine boats and water cannoned one of them, leaving four Filipino crew members injured.

The Philippine vessels were part of a regular mission to deliver provisions to a handful of Filipino troops stationed on a grounded navy vessel at Second Thomas Shoal.

“We continue to view with great alarm this continuing dangerous manoeuvres and dangerous actions that are being done against our seamen, our coast guard,” Mr. Marcos told reporters.

“I think that we cannot view this in any way but in the most serious way,” he said.

“Once again, we will make our objections known and hope that we can continue to communicate to find a way so that such actions are no longer seen.”

Manila summoned a Chinese representative over the incidents on Tuesday.

Beijing expressed “strong protests” over the run-in with the Philippine vessels, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Tuesday.

‘Worst in two years’

Philippine Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, who was on board the supply boat water cannoned by the China Coast Guard, said the force of the water “shattered the windshield” and injured four personnel.

“In the last two years, I think this is the worst because it resulted in personal injuries,” Carlos, chief of the Armed Forces Western Command, told reporters.

The incident happened a day after Philippine foreign minister Enrique Manalo called on China to “stop harassing us” as he defended Manila’s strategy of publicising Chinese manoeuvres in the South China Sea.

AFP was among media outlets on board one of the Philippine Coast Guard ships that escorted the supply mission.

Tuesday’s collisions and water cannoning came after similar incidents in December.

“It is China that is deliberately stirring up trouble and maliciously inciting hype and not the Philippines,” said Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the Philippines’ National Security Council.

“The South China Sea is wide enough for both our nations to peacefully co-exist as we have done for centuries.”

China claims almost the entire waterway, brushing aside competing claims from a host of Southeast Asian nations and an international ruling that has declared its stance baseless.