Even before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled last week in the Philippines’s favor, President Duterte declared his openness to engage in bilateral talks with China over the maritime disputes.
President Duterte cited Former President Fidel V. Ramos as a possible special envoy to China to initiate the talks. Several key allies have to be consulted. Last week French Ambassador to the Philippines Thierry Mathou told reporters France was willing to engage the disputing countries in discussion and diplomacy, emphasizing it was in everyone’s interest to lessen the tension.
I suggested an unsolicited advice. President Duterte should consider consulting first with the National Security Council (NSC) and convene the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to define the country’s goals, its overall strategy and timing. The country and his position will be greatly enhanced and solidified, as it will attract the backing of the security and political establishment.
Filipinos themselves need to understand and absorb the implications of the ruling. The outside world, who applauded the decision near unanimously—especially our country’s allies in the neighborhood, who steadfastly stood by us—also needs time to think through its practical effects.
Domestically, we need to collect our thoughts. Outside our shores, we need to marshal the support and assistance of friends and allies. Beyond heart-warming expressions of their oneness with us, there should be a focused and sustained advocacy and activism in international bodies, and fora of the huge peace dividend a mutual settlement will bring about to a tension-filled region.
Indeed, we need to act with deliberate speed. But there should be no rush simply to appease an irritated Beijing. Even though there appears to be unanimous support within China over its aggressiveness regarding the disputed seas, there are also some influential personalities voicing moderation. Over the weekend, Prof. Shen Dingli, from the Institute of International Studies of the famed Fudan University in Shanghai, wrote in an India Today opinion piece that China should consider revising its stance and employ a more effective approach that maintained China’s “long-held ‘smiling’ image.”
So historic and global, a milestone as the South China Sea ruling needs measured and well-thought-out steps, so that such pathbreaking edict will become an international precedent.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.