Phiel Daphine Nacionales

BSA-BAC ZGE1106

The ASEAn assist the Philippines in claiming West Philippine Sea against the

China by the cooperation of the member to resolve the problem..

The country must assert its own claim to ownership of the contested territory in the

West Philippine Sea (WPS) but it has to seek the help of other nations in the region so it

could have a bigger voice against the aggressive actions of an Asian superpower, a

militant lawmaker said Tuesday.

Since the Philippines cannot afford to go to war with China, despite the blatant

aggression it has displayed when it occupied and built structures on some parts of the

WPS, its best choice of action is to rally the members of the Association Southeast

Asian Nations (Asean), especially those who are involved in the territorial dispute, to

pressure the superpower into cooperating and resolving the multinational issue, said

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate during a press conference.

Among the Asean member-nations who, like the Philippines, are claiming some portions

of the disputed maritime area as their own, are Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei,

and Taiwan.

“We can rally our neighbors who also have the same claims there (WPS), and engage

China in a multilateral manner so that the proposed code of conduct in the West

Philippine Sea could be realized,” Zarate said.

He said the diplomatic approach is more effective because the Philippine lacks the

capability and capacity to wage war with China.

The congressman has also slammed the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for

what he called as having a “chopsuey foreign policy” for the government’s dealings with

the United States, China, and even Russia.

Zarate said Duterte should push for an independent foreign policy, a promise he made

during the campaign in 2016, rather than serving at the pleasure of the powerful

nations.

“We can deal with other countries on equal footing and we must see to it that our rights

are not trampled on,” he added.

He said Bayan Muna and other militant groups threw their support to Duterte when he

ran in 2016 because of that campaign promise.

When the Philippines won a case against China over the West Philippine Sea (South

China Sea), experts hoped the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would

rally around the ruling to tame an aggressive Beijing.

The perfect time for this would have been the Philippines' ASEAN chairmanship

this year. The Philippines as ASEAN chair, at least, could have pushed for a

mention of the Hague ruling in an ASEAN statement. The Southeast Asian country

could have led ASEAN, too, in standing more strongly against China's

militarization of the South China Sea.