Amen to world peace

Coming home after a late dinner appointment last Wednesday night, I caught on TV the live telecast feed by CNN of the speech of American President Barack Obama. There was no advisory from CNN to expect some major announcement from Mr. Obama at the commencement rites for Class 2014 of the West Point Academy in New York.

CNN merely flashed that Obama was spelling out his foreign policy vision at West Point, the premier military school of the United States. Still, however, the speech of the US President was interesting enough to listen to, sprinkled with typical American humor that only they can understand.

Perhaps, my lingering interest on what Mr. Obama will say had something to do with his trip in Manila last April 28 and received here by President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III.

Before newly commissioned US Army officers from the latest batch of West Point graduates, President Obama fondly reminisced his first ever speech in a similar graduation ceremony in 2009. During those days, he recalled, there were about 100,000 American soldiers deployed in Iraq as the US was preparing to surge to Afghanistan at the height of the global war against Al Qaeda-led terrorism.

Four and a half years later and now on his second term of office at the White House, President Obama stressed the global security landscape has dramatically changed. “And Osama bin Laden is no more,” he pointed out. It was met with the loud hoohahs of his West Point audience.

In the middle of his speech, Mr. Obama mentioned the Philippines as an example of countries that continue to count upon America for help from a world leader. In our case, he cited, when “a typhoon hits the Philippines.”

But what was really the most striking in Obama’s speech — even without mention of the Philippines — was his admission of the US government’s failure to show true leadership in keeping world peace and security, including the growing tension now in the Southeast Asia region.

He reiterated the US concern over China’s economic rise and military reach worried its neighbors, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam which have claims to parts of the South China Sea. Beijing asserts its “nine-dash claim” that almost exclusively annexes the entire area as its own.

“In the Asia Pacific, we’re supporting Southeast Asian nations as they negotiate a code of conduct with China on maritime disputes in the South China Sea, and we’re working to resolve these disputes through international law,” President Obama pointed out.

“We can’t try to resolve problems in the South China Sea when we have refused to make sure that the Law of the Sea Convention is ratified by the United States Senate, despite the fact that our top military leaders say the treaty advances our national security. That’s not leadership. That’s retreat. That’s not strength; that’s weakness,” he declared.

I almost fell from my bed after hearing this from Mr. Obama. The journalist instinct in me wanted to immediately call up the office and file the story. But it was way past deadline already and the first printed copies of The STAR were already on the road for delivery to the provinces. 

As far as I could recall — I don’t know if I’m mistaken — this is the first ever, official declaration no less by a US President in recent history to support the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Philippines is among the archipelagic countries in the world that signed the UNCLOS and subsequently ratified this international treaty.

Fortunately, our veteran Washington bureau chief Lito Katigbak was on duty and did the job of writing the story published in The STAR today. He reported many American senators and military analysts believe US accession to the UNCLOS will not resolve the conflicting claims in this oil-and-gas rich South China Sea.

Also, he reported the UNCLOS has provisions that US lawmakers and military analysts worry could seriously interfere with legitimate US naval operations. It would allow other nations to avail themselves of the treaty’s mandatory dispute-resolution mechanisms. Besides, they point out, China is a party to UNCLOS but nonetheless is the source of much of the conflicting maritime problems in the region.

Invoking UNCLOS, the Philippines elevated before international arbitration China’s series of annexation of atolls, shoals, islets and islands that all lie within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippine government filed a case for binding arbitration before a UN tribunal over its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea on January 22 last year. And on March 30 this year, the Philippines submitted nearly 4,000 pages of “Memorial” or written argument to the international tribunals, or ITLOS, now hearing the case against China for its expansive and excessive claims in the disputed areas in South China Sea.

Even if China is a signatory to UNCLOS, Beijing insists the matter should be resolved on bilateral basis between claimant states, like between Beijing and Manila; and between Beijing and Hanoi.

Apparently, China’s stand no longer sits well with the present US leadership stands now after Beijing’s extended claims reaching all the way to Japanese island.

Speaking as Commander-in-chief, President Obama declared at West Point his vision of how to carry out America’s leadership in the remaining years of his office. “The United States will use military force, unilaterally if necessary, when our core interests demand it: when our people are threatened; when our livelihoods are at stake; when the security of our allies is in danger.”

Mr. Obama’s usual engaging self kept me glued until the end of his speech, punctuated by the standard presidential extro: “And may God bless the United States of America.”

Oh my God! What did the Aquino administration enter us into with the US? On the eve of Obama’s trip in Manila last month, our Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with US ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. Until now, we have not seen the fine print of the EDCA.

As the Commander-in-chief of the US forces, President Obama vowed in his West Point speech to wield these powers of the military to help keep peace in the world. We could only say: Amen to that!