Manila’s top envoy to tackle regional issues with Malaysian, Thai peers

THE PHILIPPINES’ top envoy will meet with his Malaysian and Thai counterparts this week to discuss regional issues and seek deeper bilateral ties, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

In a statement, the agency said Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo and Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dato Seri Utama Jahi Mohammad Bin Haji Hasan will meet at the Eight Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to discuss “matters of mutual interest to both countries and the Southeast Asian region.”

“The reconvening of the JCM manifests the deepening of the friendship between the two countries, as well as the expansion of areas of bilateral cooperation,” DFA said.

The meeting is a consultation and cooperation mechanism used to tackle pressing bilateral and regional issues, it said.

This comes after Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. urged Southeast Asian leaders and China at a regional summit in Laos on Thursday to speed up talks on a code of conduct for the South China Sea.

The idea of a maritime code was first agreed between China and ASEAN in 2002, but the process of creating it did not start until 2017.

A United Nations-backed tribunal in the Hague in 2016 voided China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, as it ruled Scarborough Shoal is a traditional fishing ground for Filipino, Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen. China has controlled the shoal since 2012.

The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet.

Meanwhile, Mr. Manalo will also meet with Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa in Bangkok on Oct. 18 for a separate dialogue about regional and bilateral issues.

The mechanism would “facilitate cooperation and consultation between the Philippines and Thailand on a wide array of issues of bilateral and regional concern,” DFA said in a separate statement.

During the Thai diplomat’s visit to Manila in July, he said Thailand was ready to help the Philippines and China peacefully resolve their sea dispute and ease tensions in the waterway.

Aside from the Philippines and China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the South China Sea.

The Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries late Monday said a Chinese maritime militia boat  had deliberately sideswiped one of its two vessels that were conducting routine maritime patrols near Thitu Island on Friday.

US Marines and Filipino troops on Monday kicked off their yearly Kamandag joint military drills that will be held on the main Luzon island, Metro Manila and Palawan province, the US Defense department’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service said in a statement.

The exercises aim to boost interoperability between the troops through coastal defense, combat medicine and humanitarian assistance drills, it added.

The Philippines is set to take the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2026, where it seeks to raise its sea row with China.

Last year, Mr. Marcos said Manila would take over the regional bloc’s chairmanship in 2026 as the country aims to “fortify the foundations of our community-building and navigate ASEAN as it embarks on a new chapter.”

“It is regrettable that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged,” he told Southeast Asian leaders at the Laos summit, based on a statement from his office. “We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez