Marcos says 'paradigm shift' needed in diplomacy with China
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. emphasized the need for a “paradigm shift” in tackling China’s increasingly aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea as diplomatic efforts with Beijing were heading in a “poor direction.”
In an interview with Japanese media Saturday, Marcos said “traditional methods of diplomacy”—such as sending note verbales and summoning Chinese envoys—had been disregarded by Beijing.
“We have been doing this for many years now, with very little progress,” Marcos was quoted as saying in a release issued by the Presidential Communications Office.
“We have to do something that we have not done before. We have to come up with a new concept, a new principle, a new idea so that we move [...] the needle the other way. It’s going up, let’s move the needle back. So that paradigm shift is something that we have to formulate,” he added.
Relations between the Philippines and China have deteriorated under Marcos, who has sought to strengthen ties with the United States and push back against Beijing’s aggressions in the West Philippine Sea.
In contrast, his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte pursued a foreign policy shift toward China in exchange for investment pledges.
Earlier this month, the government accused the China Coast Guard of ramming and firing water cannons at Philippine supply boats.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, encompassing waters and islands close to its neighbors' shores. It has ignored an international tribunal ruling in 2016, which stated that its claims have no legal basis.
De-escalate tension
Marcos also said the Philippines will continue talking to its partners not only in the Indo-Pacific region but also globally if necessary, to de-escalate the tension in the vital waterway.
“We do not want to go to the point where there are incidents that might cause an actual violent conflict,” the chief executive said.
“And so, we have, in my review, it’s time that the countries that feel that they have an involvement in this situation, we have to come up with a paradigm shift,” he added.
Marcos was in Tokyo to attend the commemorative summit for the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan friendship and cooperation.
Southeast Asian and Japanese leaders agreed to “strengthen dialogue and cooperation for the maintenance of maritime security and safety and maritime order based on the rule of law” in the face of China’s growing assertiveness.
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