CEBU, Philippines — Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. told Southeast Asian defense chiefs, whose countries have widely varying ties with superpower China, that the bloc should “not allow differences to divide us from within.”
“ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] was founded on the belief that our strength lies in our diversity. We must therefore not allow our differences to divide us from within, and where such differences exist, including in the South China Sea, we shall settle them through peaceful and legal means,” said Teodoro, chairman of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, to open the event on Wednesday, October 28.
Regional security, as well as bloc cooperation over issues like disaster risk reduction, will be among the key issues defense officials are expected to tackle in meetings and sideline events from October 28 to 29 at the Mactan Expo in Lapu-Lapu City.
Ministers, as well as working groups, are also expected to tackle protection of underwater critical infrastructure, cooperation for food and energy security, and preparedness for the super El Niño and its possible effects on security.
ADMM and the ADMM-Plus is an annual gathering of defense ministers from Southeast Asia and “plus countries” or ADMM dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. It is the largest defense diplomacy gathering in ASEAN for the calendar year.
Aside from all 11 defense chiefs from Southeast Asia, their counterparts for almost all plus countries, including US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japan Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro, are participating in the meetings.
As chair of ADMM, Teodoro will preside over all meetings, including two separate “informal meetings” with the US and Japan.
China’s Dong Jun will not be attending ADMM+. Beijing will instead be represented by its defense attache assigned to the Chinese embassy in Manila.
Cebu province has hosted several meetings under the Philippines’ chairmanship, including the first Foreign Ministers’ meeting, and the Summit in May.
Tense PH-China ties
“In a fragmenting world, our internal stability and intra-ASEAN unity are vital, perhaps even, in the future, existential. For it is only when we are united that we can effectively uphold ASEAN centrality and the principles that bind us, such as mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes, and the renunciation of the threat or use of force,” said Teodoro, in remarks that preceded a direct mention of the South China Sea.
While disputes over and tensions in the critical waterway won’t be the center of discussions in Cebu, they certainly backdrop the Philippines’ chairmanship both of ASEAN and ADMM.
Teodoro, among the loudest critics of Beijing in the Philippine government, is barred from entering and transacting in China over his statements against the Asian superpower. Just weeks before ADMM, China’s ambassador to Manila was criticized for saying the Philippines should be thankful that they do not use force in its disputes — a statement made in reaction to Teodoro’s assertion that it was Beijing who was causing trouble in the region.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, based on a supposed historical claim that a landmark 2016 Arbitral Award deemed invalid. Their claim overlaps with maritime claims and entitlements of several ASEAN members, including the Philippines.
In the West Philippine Sea, an area that includes the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, those overlapping claims have meant recurring confrontations between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces in some areas and features.
Tensions in the South China Sea is a concern for ASEAN not only because several members are claimants. The waterway is where up to a third of global trade passes through.
“ASEAN was founded on the belief that our strength lies in our diversity. We must therefore not allow our differences to divide us from within, and where such differences exist, including in the South China Sea, we shall settle them through peaceful and legal means,” said Teodoro.
US, Japan ties
As chair of ADMM, it’s the Philippines who steers the agenda. It’s almost no surprise that in Cebu, the Philippines is hosting two “informal meetings” with treaty-ally United States and close partner Japan.
Manila’s defense and security ties are deepest and most developed with Washington DC and Tokyo. The two countries are its staunchest partners in South China Sea issues and in its push to modernize the Philippine military. Manila is the first recipient of Japan’s Official Security Assistance (OSA). The US has allocated over $2.5 billion over five years in foreign military financing for the Philippines.
Teodoro is also expected to host a quadrilateral meeting between Hegseth, Koizumi, and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles, a grouping known colloquially as the SQUAD.
The Philippines’ defense engagements — both with traditional and new partners — is spurred, in no small way, by maritime tensions with China.
In ASEAN, member states have varying degrees of closeness and cooperation with Beijing. It’s a difference that’s made cohesion a challenge, especially in a bloc that puts centrality and unanimity at the center of its decision-making and policy-making process. – Rappler.com