THE PHILIPPINES has officially turned over its role as country coordinator for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China Dialogue to Myanmar, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.
In a text message, DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez said Myanmar assumed the coordinatorship during the virtual Asean-China Post Ministerial Conference on Aug. 3.
Throughout its co-chairmanship with China from 2018 to 2021, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. reported that the Philippines has tried to make as much progress on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea (COC) negotiations even while the pandemic is ongoing.
"As outgoing Country Coordinator for negotiations on the Code of Conduct, the Philippines tried to make as much progress on the COC negotiations as circumstances allowed," he said in his statement at the Asean-China meet on Aug. 3.
"Soon we turn over the work to Myanmar. Speaking of whom, we recognize that given its proximity to China, we hope for China’s initiative in restoring peace and freedom to that said land," he added.
The Asean and Beijing adopted the COC framework in 2017 in hopes of a document that will serve as a guideline for parties in the disputed South China Sea, where China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam have overlapping territorial claims.
Last September 2020, Locsin said he would "push through to the 2nd Draft and get started on the 3rd before handing the China coordinatorship" to Myanmar.
At the Asean Post Ministerial Conference with China, Locsin reiterated that disputes in the area "should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS and in the recent light of the 2016 Arbitral Award which singles out no one, was carefully crafted as to be unusable as a weapon for disputation; and most helpful in clarifying maritime issues."
Meanwhile, Locsin said Beijing deserved a status upgrade as the bloc's comprehensive strategic partner as he cited the broad partnership between Asean and China.
"Let me begin with the self-evident: the quality and increasing extent of Asean-China relations merit elevation to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. As I said at Chongqing, geography alone argues for the elevation; reality demands it. China is or soon will be the world’s biggest economy. Its role is imperative for a global post-pandemic recovery," he said.
He noted China's success in containing the virus and its role as one of the first pandemic responders who shared their strategies as well as vaccines to several countries.
"When critics of China said its vaccines are not as good, I asked: As compared to what? The Chinese vaccines were the first on the scene. Had many countries not made a grab for it, the death toll would be far greater. The extent might be the same; but the intensity of the infections far worse," he said.
But aside from the pandemic, Locsin said the two parties could also work on addressing the climate crisis and protecting the environment, including the seas.
"The climate crisis is here. We see it in the increased number and intensity of fires across forests and plains; heatwaves withering crops; droughts parching farmlands; alternatively: flash floods of uncommon scale; swallowing cities, wiping out decades of progress. Our planet is dying. If climate action does not measure up to what is needed, we all face the same fate of diminished existence or extinction altogether," he said.
"We therefore welcome China’s great leaps to scale up initiatives on renewable energy. An environmentally conscious and conscientious economic powerhouse benefits not just its neighbors but the world," he added.
Manila assumed co-chairmanship of the Asean-China Dialogue from Singapore in 2018. Myanmar will shepherd the relations for the period of 2021 to 2024. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora)
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