Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 1) — The Philippines needs to establish proactive relations with its neighbors, specifically those who also have claims to the South China Sea, for a more unitary approach amid China’s aggressions in the disputed waters and the rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, according to an analyst.
“It will be necessary for us to really try to forge proactive and practical relations with our immediate neighbors that also have similar threat perceptions,” Don Mclain Gill, Manila-based geopolitical expert and author, told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
He made the statement ahead of the expected arrival of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to the country on Wednesday. He is the first head of government to visit Manila since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June last year.
Both countries are among claimants to parts of the South China Sea, along with Brunei, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
The two leaders are expected to discuss political, security, and economic cooperation, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
“While the economic and digital connectivity will be highlighted, the Malaysia-Philippine partnership will also seek to harness a practical security partnership for the region,” Gill said.
He also said the conflicting claims should not impede both countries and others in the Southeast Asian region “to look into the least common denominator in order to forge more proactive cooperation at a time when China’s rise is coupled with its assertiveness.”
Achieving this will require joint patrols for interoperability, capacity building, information sharing, and smoother coordination.
“The chances of engaging more proactively and comprising more proactively between and among Southeast Asian countries is far more feasible, of course, and this would be a significant determinant to forge the more unitary approach towards China and of course, trying to balance the relations between the United States and China given the intensifying US-China power competition,” Gill explained.
The expert said diplomacy and consistent negotiations in the Southeast Asian region would be necessary as countries here are tied with the reality of geopolitics. Rather than cutting ties, they have to live and engage with each other to come up with better solutions to any issue, he added.
