Brawner sees more maritime drills with other countries

SINGAPORE – More countries have expressed interest in conducting joint military drills with the Philippines in the South China Sea to ensure a “free and peaceful Indo-Pacific,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s largest defense summit, here on Friday, Brawner said several countries attending the security annual summit would like to have a bilateral meeting with the Philippines.

“We are happy about that because it only means to say that a lot of countries are interested in helping us with the situation. Not just interested to know what we think of the situation but really, they are offering us assistance, support,” Brawner told reporters.

Brawner was apparently referring to the growing tensions between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea.

When asked whether the countries would like to take part in the military drills, the AFP chief said “there are more (countries) interested.”

“And in fact it’s surprising that even European countries are interested to come to the region and to assist us, to help us,” Brawner said.

Apart from joint exercises and operations, he said these “like-minded” nations could assist the Philippines in training and in capability and capacity development.

President Marcos delivered the keynote address at the 21st edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense summit, organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

A world issue

Meanwhile, Marcos disputed a Chinese general’s claim that the Philippines is destroying the peace in the Indo-Pacific and deviating from the real concept of centrality in Association of Southeast Asian Nations through its actions, including alliances with non-ASEAN nations.

During a Q&A segment after delivering his keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Marcos stressed that the Philippines is committed to genuine peace and ASEAN centrality.

“I cannot imagine what you must be referring to, if the reference or the allusion is to the Philippines somehow tearing apart what we have agreed on in terms of ASEAN Centrality – quite the contrary,” the President said at the Q&A, responding to a question from Chinese Major General Xu Hui Commandant of the Chinese military’s International College of Defense Studies.

“I think if you examine more closely the remarks that I have just made, I precisely focused on ASEAN Centrality, and that the principles that are laid down, that are involved in the concept of ASEAN Centrality are something that we must use to guide us,” he explained.

Marcos said peace and stability in the South China Sea and freedom of navigation in the waterway are world issues, discussions on which “must involve all parties.”

“I would even go far as to say, there is no such thing as a regional issue any longer. We have all experienced the unexpected effects of the war in Ukraine, of the conflict in the Middle East,” the President added.

He also underscored the importance of the South China Sea to global trade and economy, being the passageway for half of the world’s trade.

“Because now, it is not just ASEAN member-states or stakeholders, and it is quite easy to see that it is in fact the entire world that have become stakeholders in the peace and stability of our region,” Marcos said.

The President also said the Philippines continues to boost its military capability to defend itself against any act of aggression from another country.

Asked by a Filipino delegate about his vision for the country’s military by the end of his term, Marcos said his government is in the process of finding suppliers for its AFP modernization program dubbed “Horizon 3.”