Envoys from various countries eye expanding defense cooperation with PH

MANILA, Philippines — In marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award, which upheld the Philippines’ maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea, envoys from various countries expressed intent on expanding defense and technical cooperation with the Philippines.

According to Stratbase Institute, envoys from Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom made the pronouncement during a high-level forum titled “A Decade of the Arbitral Award: Credible Deterrence in Defense of the West Philippine Sea.”

During the gathering, the envoys stressed their support for the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or Unclos which underpins the arbitral ruling, and expressed their commitment to stronger ties with the country to ensure that the region remains governed by law and not by coercion.

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READ: PH arbitral win’s legacy: World’s eyes on China

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“Legal principles alone are not enough. Whenever rules are challenged, like when nations speak up, words must be backed by practical cooperation,” Ambassador of France to the Philippines, Marie Fontanel, said.

“Defending international law requires power… power requires ships, aircraft, joint drills, agreements. It requires that like-minded partners can operate together quickly, credibly, lawfully,” she added.

READ: Ten years after: What the Philippines really won

Australian Ambassador Marc Innes-Brown, for his part, said Canberra was looking forward to signing a new defense cooperation arrangement with Manila in 2026, building on the country’s $160 million, 10-year investment in maritime cooperation with Southeast Asian partners including the Philippines.

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Innes-Brown said Australia has also doubled its bilateral maritime assistance to the Philippines through a new $18 million investment to “[help] strengthen maritime domain awareness, supporting legal and policy development, enhancing operational capabilities, building cyber resilience and delivering professional education and law of the sea training to nearly 800 officials and practitioners in recent years.”

Meanwhile, UK ambassador Sara Hulton said it was now in formal negotiations with the Philippines for its own Status of Visiting Forces Agreement.

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“We’re pursuing joint military exercises and capitalizing on opportunities to observe others… We were particularly pleased to be a part of Exercise Balikatan ‘26 as an observer nation, with aspirations to be a participating nation in the future, and are planning to participate in Exercise Sama-Sama ‘26 later this year, deepening our interoperability with the Philippines and our allies,” she said.

Canadian Ambassador David Hartman likewise highlighted the recently signed Visiting Forces Agreement and said Ottawa looked forward to co-chairing several practical initiatives with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) partners, including workshops on Unclos, climate security, cybersecurity, and defense cooperation.

Indian Ambassador Sri Harsh Kumar Jain, on the other hand, said the Philippines has joined the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Center, while New Zealand Ambassador Catherine McIntosh said the country was utilizing its Starboard Maritime Intelligence Program to help regional partners reduce the risk of miscalculation through better data.

He added that the first India-Philippines disaster management exercise will be held in Manila next month with the aim of “strengthening both countries’ collective preparedness and enhancing our joint capabilities in disaster response, crisis management and resilience.”

Meanwhile, Japanese envoy Endo Kazuya said both Japan and the Philippines were now advancing discussions on transferring Abukuma-class vessels and TC-90 training aircraft as a “demonstrat(ion) of our concrete resolve to build a future-oriented security partnership.”

South Korean Ambassador Lee Sang-hwa said South Korea and the Philippines have also shifted their focus toward shipbuilding, commissioning Korean-built offshore patrol vessels and supporting local vessel construction at the HD Hyundai Subic Shipyard to foster Philippine self-reliance.

Technological initiatives were also a central theme for enhancing maritime domain awareness, with EU Ambassador Massimo Santoro highlighting the EU’s “IORIS platform,” a real-time information-sharing tool for maritime authorities.

Santoro even hinted at “additional instruments [which] will allow us to translate our shared objectives into even more tangible support on the ground and at the sea… stay tuned because I think we’ll have good news soon.”

The ambassadors also shared their concern regarding “dangerous and destabilizing conduct” by China, citing its recent water cannon incidents and the launch of nuclear-capable missiles in the region.

Germany’s Ambassador Dr. Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke summarized the collective sentiment, stating that stability in the West Philippine Sea is a “litmus test for the global rule of law.”

“We are convinced that the strength of the law must always prevail over the law of the strong. Right makes might, not might makes right. The 2016 Arbitral Award is final, and it is legally binding on all parties to the dispute. It is not a disputable opinion, it is an authoritative clarification of maritime entitlements,” he said.

With this, Stratbase Institute president Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit said these initiatives from other “like-minded nations” reinforced Stratbase’s findings through a commissioned survey, which showed that 86 percent of Filipinos wanted the government to continue defending the West Philippine Sea with like-minded nations.

“As China’s gray zone activity persists, and as the contest extends into cyber and information domains, defending the gains of the award requires modern, integrated, multi-domain defense posture. One built to deter coercion, protect our interests, and respond across every domain where we are being tested,” he said.

“Every port call, every joint patrol, every diplomatic statement citing the award carries the same message. The defense of the West Philippine Sea is no longer the Philippines’ burden to carry by itself. It is part of the broader defense of a rules-based order that every state in this intercontinental network depends on,” he added.

The Philippines and China have been embroiled in maritime disputes after the latter country made sweeping claims over the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, which is well within the Southeast Asian country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

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The 2016 Arbitral Award, which stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, already invalidated China’s claim, but the Asian giant continued to deliberately ignore the ruling, consistently encroaching on the Philippines’ EEZ. /cb

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