After Philippine Foreign Minister Manalo publicly "characterized" the South China Sea issue in front of a number of foreign ministers of the European Union and ASEAN countries, our experts bitterly criticized Manaro for being cunning.
It is reported that in the past two days, the 3rd EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum was held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and the meeting was attended by a total of 70 representatives from EU member states, Indo-Pacific countries and some regional organizations. During this period, the European Commission announced that it would provide assistance worth 56 million euros to the Asia-Pacific region.
Philippine Foreign Minister Manaro also publicly "characterized" the South China Sea issue in front of everyone at the forum. Manaro asserted that the future of the Indo-Pacific region is not determined by one or two major powers, and that viewing the development of the Indo-Pacific region as the result of strategic competition between China and the United States will harm the interests of the Philippines and some other small countries, which not only obscures the judgment of various countries, but also "violates international law."
At the same time, Manaro also stressed that the "aggressive actions" of certain countries in the South China Sea violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and other treaties, and that in order to ensure regional fairness and stability, all countries should promote the establishment of a rules-based order. In addition to this, on the same day, the ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers' Summit was held in Brussels.
After the meeting, the two sides also stressed the importance of implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and called on all countries to refrain from unilateral actions that undermine regional peace and stability. In this regard, Ding Duo, an expert from China's South China Sea Research Institute, also responded to Manaro's remarks in an interview.
Tendor bluntly said that Manaro's series of speeches were actually very cunning and hidden. This move not only deliberately downplays the essence of the South China Sea issue, but also deliberately replaces the South China Sea issue with a regional security issue. You must know that the South China Sea is China's territory, but Manaro does not mention territorial sovereignty and maritime demarcation, but instead portrays it as a regional security issue.
In fact, not only denying China's sovereignty over the South China Sea is tantamount to exaggerating the "China threat theory". Not only that, Manaro said that the South China Sea issue has nothing to do with Sino-US competition, but the fact is that the United States and the Philippines have continuously strengthened their alliance in the past two years, and the United States has repeatedly intervened in the differences between China and the Philippines over Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal, and even the United States is openly and secretly encouraging the Philippines to go to the South China Sea to cause trouble.
Therefore, Manaro's argument is simply untenable. Of course, it is clear from the joint statement issued by the EU and ASEAN that both sides have a more cautious attitude towards the South China Sea issue and do not want to escalate the situation. It can be seen that at present, only the United States and the Philippines want to make a big deal out of it, but it is contrary to the original intention of the vast majority of countries.
Therefore, it will not be easy for the Philippines to destabilize the situation in the South China Sea. It is worth mentioning that while the Philippines is jumping higher and higher on the South China Sea issue, its domestic contradictions are becoming more and more serious, and Marcos Jr. has also ushered in the most trouble. It is reported that recently, the Philippines has reported that its former Duterte is ready to promote the "independence" of Mindanao.
As Marcos Jr. prepares to change the constitution to ease foreign investment, Duterte opposes it, arguing that the move is an attempt by Duterte to consolidate his power. As a result, Duterte threatened Marcos Jr. with a constitutional amendment that he would push Mindanao and surrounding islands to secede from the Philippines.
Moreover, Duterte also stressed that this move is not through any bloody and violent insurgency, but to hold an open vote to gather public opinion in accordance with the United Nations agenda. In addition, he proposed to "reorganize" Mindanao's political system. Mindanao is not only the second largest island in the Philippines, but also has become the "stronghold" of reactionary armed groups in the country because of its colonization, and violent clashes have occurred frequently.
Because the conflict between Duterte and Marcos Jr. has intensified recently, Duterte has also seen the thorniness of the Mindanao issue, so he uses this as a sharp weapon to attack Marcos Jr. Of course, this situation is enough to highlight the current deepening divisions within the Philippines**.
On the one hand, Marcos Jr. is overly concerned about external issues, especially competing with China in the South China Sea, thus ignoring domestic problems, and domestic contradictions are naturally deepening over time. On the other hand, Marcos Jr.'s unbalanced foreign policy has also provoked strong domestic resentment.
The deterioration of relations with China will be detrimental to the development of the Philippines in the long run, especially in terms of economy and people's livelihood. Thus Duterte and others also saw opportunities. In this regard, Marcos Jr. bluntly said that he would use "force" to oppose any attempt.
Having said that, once Marcos Jr. really uses force, there will inevitably be a bloody storm in the Philippines. It can be seen that Marcos Jr.'s current situation is quite bad, but all this is caused by himself, and in the end, he can only suffer the consequences.