Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17) — The Philippines and other countries in the Asia-Pacific are “facing pressure to take sides” due to “tension in the region” caused by geopolitical rivalry, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday.
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Marcos made the comment during a luncheon hosted for the Philippine delegation in Davos, Switzerland.
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According to Malacañang, the president also said members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation are “very well committed to the idea that they cannot return to the Cold War formula, in which they have to choose whether to be under the Soviet Union or the United States spheres of influence.”
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“And that puts the Philippines in a very precarious position, being on the front line of this conflict,” Marcos said, adding “this is the very fine line that the Philippines has to choose.”
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Malacañang added that the president also pointed out that Asia-Pacific countries should “chart their own destiny away from the clutches of intense geopolitical rivalry” and that “there is unanimity among those nations not to embrace the Cold War mentality.”
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“I think we are determined as a group in ASEAN and in the Indo-Pacific, those around the Indo-Pacific, despite all of this conflict, we are determined to stay away from that,” Marcos told the gathering.
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“And simply because we are anchored in the idea that the future of the Indo-Pacific, the future of Asia-Pacific for example cannot be determined by anyone but the countries of the Asia-Pacific and that removes us immediately from that idea that you must choose, we choose our friends, we choose our neighbors, that’s the choice that we will make,” he added.
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Marcos also noted the tendency of nations to move toward nationalism and protectionism due to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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He said the pandemic brought the Philippines “back to the basics,” which means it can “no longer depend on importation to survive.”
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“We have to strengthen our own local economy to be able to withstand shocks such as the pandemic, such as Ukraine in the future and there is an element, there is a tendency of protectionism in that because we take care first of our own businesses, we take care first of our own industries, we take care first of our own economy,” he explained.
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Although there are some disruptions which he described as “a very big bump on the road,” the president believes that the world will find itself on the path toward globalization.
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