MANILA, Philippines — Experts yesterday urged the government to consider coordinating with allies and engage in a united response against Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
Standing up against escalating Chinese aggression and engaging in collective deterrence with allies were some of the recommendations made by national security, maritime law and geopolitical experts during a forum on gray zone operations in the maritime Indo-Pacific, organized by the Stratbase ADR Institute in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines.
Maritime law professor Jay Batongbacal said Chinese operations in the West Philippine Sea are now becoming “more and more clearly hostile and aggressive.”
Last month, the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) beamed a military-grade laser light on a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship in Ayungin Shoal.
The PCG also reported the presence of a People’s Liberation Army navy vessel, a CCG boat and 42 suspected Chinese maritime militia vessels within the surrounding waters of Pag-asa island.
Batongbacal said the government should consider coordinating with allies and engage in a collective deterrence against Chinese aggression.
“We should also consider talking closely with and coordinating with allies and friends so we can engage in collective deterrence. We should be together engaging in contingency planning and coordinating our policies, our activities, our responses, so that we may all be acting under a kind of united front,” he said.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG adviser for maritime security, said removing the shades of gray and exposing it to be either black or white is the most important role of the coast guard in recent weeks in the West Philippine Sea.
“The Philippine Coast Guard’s persistent presence in patrolling the contested waters while at the same time documenting China’s activities allowed the international community to criticize their (China’s) actions that violate international law and violate international rules based order,” Tarriela said.
Batongbacal urged the government to carefully consider how to prepare reasonable and proportionate responses to threats and activities undertaken by China against Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea.
“We should not be afraid to consider proportional and reasonable responses. We should not shy away every time they make threatening moves and then we retreat for fear of provocation. There should be no gray area anymore,” Batongbacal said.
“We need to begin erasing the gray zone. We need to begin acting and standing up for our lawful maritime rights. This is the only way we can move that forward. Otherwise, we might as well retreat and give up everything,” he added.
The Philippines, according to Batongbacal, should demonstrate to China that its gray zone activities and various other shenanigans will no longer be effective because there will be a united and collective response from all fronts, wherever they may be.
Stratbase president Dindo Manhit also urged the government to cooperate with like-minded states through joint patrols and maritime domain awareness.
“The Philippines and other Indo-Pacific states must engage in strategies that will ultimately change China’s behavior to be symbiotic with the internationally established rules-based order,” Manhit said. – Rainier Allan Ronda