PRESIDENT Duterte’s stance on territorial disputes in the South China Sea faces a fresh international test, as he meets leaders in Hanoi a day after the United States and Vietnam started naval drills in the waters.
Mr. Duterte, who also plans to visit China and Japan next month, will meet with President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during the two-day state visit. The Philippine leader said he’ll look to solidify a “strategic partnership” between the nations, which, in recent years, have shared a common position in opposing China’s expansionism in the South China Sea.
“We will seek to identify emerging areas of partnership particularly in the fields of maritime security and law enforcement,” President Duterte said before his departure on Wednesday. “As maritime nations with rapidly developing economies, we acknowledge the convergence of our strategic interests.”
Mr. Duterte has shaken up the status quo in recent weeks in calling for greater cooperation with China, while repeatedly attacking the US, the Philippines’s main security ally. Any negotiations with China over disputed territory in the South China Sea would have implications for fellow claimants, like Vietnam, that contest Beijing’s claims to more than 80 percent of the waters.
United front
The Department of Foreign Affairs said President Duterte was ready to discuss territorial disputes should the issue be raised during his Vietnam trip, according to local media reports.
Beijing has reclaimed thousands of acres of land in the waters and increased its military presence in recent years. In addition to being a strategic waterway through which more than $5 trillion in international trade passes each year, the waters are important fishing grounds that are also thought to be rich in oil and gas deposits.
The Southeast Asian neighbors had in the past pushed for a united front against China, which prefers that disputes be settled through one-on-one talks. They scored a major victory in July, when an international tribunal ruled that China’s claims were unlawful in a case brought by the Philippines—a decision Beijing refused to recognize.
Naval exercises
Since then, however, Mr. Duterte has softened toward China and offered conflicting stances on the ruling. He’s indicated he’s open to direct talks with China provided there is an economic benefit for the Philippines, a departure from his predecessor Benigno S. Aquino III. China is the largest trading partner for both the Philippines and Vietnam, while the US is second.
President Duterte has also raised concerns in Washington by saying he would put an end to his country’s joint sea patrols with the US in the area. The Philippine leader said on Wednesday that scheduled military exercises next month with the US would be the last time they take place, ABS-CBN reported, citing a speech by the Mr. Duterte.
That contrasts with American efforts to expand naval engagement with Vietnam and Japan, which indicated this month it would step up activity in the South China Sea by carrying out joint training cruises with the US Navy. China and Russia also held joint naval drills in the area this month.
The US and Vietnam announced on Wednesday the start of its seventh annual naval engagement. The drills beginning in Danang will include maritime exercises focused on communications through the code for unplanned encounters at sea, and a search and rescue operation, according to statement by the office of the US Commander Logistics Group Western Pacific.
Image credits: AP