WITH the support of India and other countries, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is more confident in upholding international rules-based order in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The chief executive made the remark during the courtesy call of Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Malacañang on Tuesday.
“We have many shared interests, primarily of, that is to maintain the peace in our areas and so this is a concern now, not only of India or of the Philippines alone, but the entire world,” Marcos said.
Jaishankar stressed the importance for India to support the Philippines in maintaining peace and order in the Indo-Pacific region.
He said India continues to recognize the 2016 ruling of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), which invalidated China’s claim in the WPS.
Non-traditional partner
MARCOS said New Delhi’s commitment to back the country in its territorial position against the claims of Beijing in the WPS is a significant development especially since the Philippines and India are “non-traditional partners on maritime issues.”
“So, whatever it is that we can do to make the situation better, in partnership with India, which certainly will be an important development for us,” he told Jaishankar.
Aside from India, United States lawmakers have recently expressed their support to the country in “pushing back” against the aggression of China in the WPS.
The President also thanked the Indian Navy for helping rescue Filipino crew members of the MV True Confidence after it was attacked off the coast of Yemen earlier this month.
Other areas of cooperation
THE President and Jaishankar’s discussion on maritime cooperation also extended to security concerns in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean, which are causing a crisis in international shipping operations.
“It really is at a crisis point of shipping. And maybe we can find something that we can do together to ease the situation at least a little bit until it becomes—the conflict becomes less heated,” Marcos said.
During their meeting, both leaders also discussed trade, tourism, food security, development, healthcare and financial technology collaboration.
India is the country’s 15th largest trading partner with bilateral trade between the two countries exceeding US$3 billion in 2023.
After the Philippines, Jaishankar will also visit Singapore and Malaysia as part of India’s efforts to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asia.
Image credits: PNA