“GREAT powers may fight if they must, compete by all means; but rivals need not fight over everything and anything,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. asserted during an omnibus intervention in the special Asean-US Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Wednesday.
“There are things the fiercest opponents have an equal stake in preserving: our one and only Earth. There can’t even be a battlefield if there isn’t that —a sustainable Earth,” he mused, referring to the rivalry between the United States and China.
Secretary Locsin said the post-pandemic recovery depends on US economic recovery, now well under way, but also equally depends on China’s recovery.
The former Makati legislator noted that 200 million Americans were vaccinated within two months of the new administration, and now approaching 300 million. “Free-for-all democracy works. That’s the end of the autocratic argument. Autocracies, elected or imposed, are falling all over the place.”
He said there were American apologies for over-ordering vaccines, but he thanked America for it. “If it hadn’t over-ordered, there wouldn’t be the excess it is now giving away to governments that didn’t order enough or at all. Or, more sadly, didn’t have the means.”
Locsin, a former Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN, thanked all countries that have helped the Philippines directly, but singled out the US “for its good taste.”
“It has contributed tens of billions of dollars in cash and vaccines; not so much directly to particular countries, except for dire cases like India. But mostly indirectly through Covax—the UN initiative that is redeeming the expense of its existence.”
He said that, “unlike typhoons, earthquakes, other natural disasters, there’s no predictable end to this pandemic.”
The solution is vaccines, he stressed. “Vaccinate until herd immunity.” However, Locsin warned that even if one had been vaccinated, one should still “mask up, shield down, wash often, keep your distance—all the things you do if not vaccinated,” as the virus may mutate out of range of the available vaccines.
The America we know
According to Manila’s highest envoy, Philippine recovery is dependent on that of the US. “It is more than that; our survival in this pandemic depends on the US.”
Locsin noted that Biden supported the proposal to waive intellectual property protections on vaccines “to enable and speed up their production worldwide.”
This shows, he noted, that the US is back to being what it was fondly remembered for: “bragging—and then walking its talk. The America we grew up with.”
Locsin added, “We see more of that America in the US decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement.”
In his conversation with Special Envoy John Kerry, Locsin said they have agreed “on the need to work together towards Glasgow, and remain steadfast towards the goal of net zero emissions,” referring to the global economic powers’ bid to reduce emissions to avert global warming.
Arbitral award
Meanwhile, Locsin welcomed the US’s open support for the 2016 Arbitral Award, on its 5th anniversary last July 12.
“It is binding international law and the most authoritative application of Unclos [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] on the maritime entitlements of features in the South China Sea,” he said.
He said the decision contributes to the rules-based order in Asean and benefits all the countries that use the vital artery that is the South China Sea.
“The rest is bluster. We thank America for its reaffirmation with greater clarity of the protection to Philippine sovereignty by the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Locsin added, saying in the Southeast Asian context, “that translates to keeping the peace and maintaining stability without pointless distractions.”
On Myanmar, he said the Philippines upholds the Five-Point Consensus Asean reached in Jakarta: an end to the violence, constructive dialogue, designation of a Special Asean Envoy, provision of humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre, inspection visits to Myanmar by the Special Asean Envoy—be it single or multiple.
Unsaid but imperative, Locsin insisted, is “the restoration of the political status quo ante the coup,” meaning, releasing the elected Myanmar leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the rest of the elected opposition now in jail.
Despite setbacks caused by Covid-19, Locsin said the resumption of negotiations on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea is ongoing.
As Asean-China coordinator, “we promised to deliver a much shorter and more digestible yet still comprehensive COC draft for second reading. I will turn over the coordinator role to Myanmar in two months.”
Image courtesy of DFA-ASEAN