Over half of ASEAN states offer help on South China Sea issues – Marcos
Metro Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed that more than half of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members have offered assistance in addressing the South China Sea disputes.
“There are many offers of help. And they say if that is the problem, maybe we could do this, maybe we could – maybe our country can send vessels, maybe we can have joint operations, maybe we can have discussions, maybe I can serve as an interlocutor,” Marcos shared in an interview with the media during the recently concluded ASEAN summit in Laos.
The president dismissed criticisms that ASEAN has become merely a “talk shop,” asserting that the forum remains a valuable platform to raise regional concerns.
“It is important for the Philippines, for example, to be able to explain to Member States and the other leaders who have come to join us the situation as we face it. Because understandably, they do not live with this – they do not live with this situation day to day. And it is important to make them aware that it is getting better, it’s getting worse,” he said.
Marcos expressed satisfaction with how the Philippines' position on the West Philippine Sea was communicated to ASEAN, emphasizing the experiences of Filipinos at sea.
“As I said, these offers of joint exercises, of continued discussions on how we can keep the South China Sea a peaceful and prosperous area of commerce, to maintain the peace, to maintain the freedom of navigation. So, these are things that perhaps might not be expressed in open session but are expressed on the sideline,” Marcos added.
Although the president declined to name the countries offering assistance, he confirmed that it was more than half of ASEAN’s member states.
“You have to keep – these are private conversations. And I would not like to put them in a spot by talking about the specifics of what we had discussed,” he said.
ASEAN is a regional organization comprising ten Southeast Asian nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It promotes political and economic cooperation, regional stability, and the peaceful resolution of disputes among its members.
The ASEAN Summit, held annually, serves as a key platform for these nations to discuss regional challenges, enhance cooperation, and shape policies for common development.
