Philippines - Waiting for unity

An opinion article in the June 14 issue of The Wall Street Journal noted the “striking” lack of support for the Philippines, in its standoff with China over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, from fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“Asean’s deafening silence is disappointing, but not surprising. The member states are divided on how best to deal with the problem due to differing national interests, including the value they place on their relationships with China,” wrote Ian Storey, currently a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. “The result is a lack of cohesion and inaction.”

In fact ASEAN is acting true to form, with each state looking after its own interest or maintaining the grouping’s long-held policy of non-interference in fellow members’ internal affairs.

Manila’s row with Beijing is not strictly internal. ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam, apart from Taiwan, are also challenging China’s claim over nearly the entire South China Sea. (It used to be called just the South Sea. Who put the “China” there? Why not call it the East Vietnam Sea? Or the West Philippine Sea? Or North Malaysia or Brunei Sea? Look at the map.)

It’s not the first time, however, that ASEAN is steering clear of a territorial dispute between one of its members and China. Vietnam, which joined ASEAN on July 28, 1995, lost the Paracel Islands (and 50 sailors) in a naval battle with China in January 1974. Hanoi has not dropped its claim over the Paracels, and denounces continuing harassment of its fishermen by the Chinese. In January 2005, the Chinese navy shot and killed nine Vietnamese, described by Hanoi as fishermen, and wounded eight others in the Gulf of Tonkin. Beijing said the men were pirates.

ASEAN also did not take sides in that case.

The 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting will be held next month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. If it’s any consolation to Filipinos who are feeling abandoned by neighbors, there is an active effort within ASEAN to come up with a united stand on the South China Sea dispute, for presentation at the meeting.

I was told that there are only two holdouts on the statement. One is reportedly the host, Malaysia, with whom the Philippines also has an unresolved territorial dispute over Sabah, although the area is currently governed by Kuala Lumpur.

The other holdout is Myanmar.

The case of Myanmar is one where the ASEAN policy of non-interference has been openly breached, most notably by the Philippines. In recent years Manila was vocal in its calls for democratic reforms in Myanmar.

Although ASEAN was started by Southeast Asian autocrats including Ferdinand Marcos, and stopping the spread of communism rather than authoritarianism was one of the original reasons for the establishment of the grouping, the oppressive Myanmar regime, which built a new capital in Naypyidaw, was becoming an embarrassment for ASEAN.

So perhaps Naypyidaw is not keen on supporting Manila in a dispute with Myanmar’s closest ally, China.

During the recent visit in Manila of Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, the Panatag dispute was reportedly discussed. The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said the two sides reiterated the importance of freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce in the South China Sea. But there was no word on the proposed ASEAN statement.

Myanmar’s military junta relied heavily on Chinese financial and other forms of support when the country was struggling through international sanctions.

But under President Thein Sein, Myanmar looks headed inexorably toward democratic reforms, especially with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi after nearly two decades of detention and her assumption of a seat in parliament after free elections.

Suu Kyi, who over the weekend finally received her Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo 21 years after it was awarded, is the new face of the Myanmar government. She is generating a lot of international goodwill for her country, much as Corazon Aquino did for the Philippines after the 1986 people power revolt.

There are predictions of a flood of investments and tourists to Suu Kyi’s country. A Western diplomat whose investors are already ahead of the rest in Myanmar told me that what could deter the flood are Myanmar’s infrastructure and regulatory environment for investments and tourism, which he said are currently worse than those of the Philippines (ouch).

With that expected flood, the reformist government in Myanmar no longer has to be dependent on Beijing for foreign aid and job-generating investments.

For all the criticism of ASEAN as a useless grouping, there is one bright spot: its members have not been at war with each other since the group was founded on Aug. 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

There have been border skirmishes in recent years between military forces of Cambodia and Thailand. But the situation could be worse if the two countries weren’t talking to each other through ASEAN.

The Philippines is conducting joint patrols with Malaysia in common waters, despite the two countries’ dispute over Sabah. Kuala Lumpur is also assisting in Manila’s peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The Philippines might get support, though indirectly, from Spain when it puts on exhibit 134 ancient maps of its former Southeast Asian colony, showing Panatag (also Panacot Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc) as part of Las Islas Filipinas.

The maps, owned by private collectors from several countries, will be put on exhibit for the first time to coincide with Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day on June 30 and Friendship Week. Spain’s Queen Sofia will be in town for the celebrations.

“Three Hundred Years of Philippine Maps 1598-1898” will run from June 26 to July 31 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, according to Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq.

Perhaps the maps can help certain ASEAN members make up their minds about territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

Singapore, the smallest though certainly not the least of the ASEAN members, has been one of the most active in pushing for Southeast Asian economic integration and unity in many aspects including regional defense and trade negotiations. Its size probably intensifies Singapore’s awareness of the adage that in unity there is strength.

That unity isn’t there in our dispute with China over Panatag.

Ana Marie Pamintuan

The Philippine Star

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