Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a rare journey to the Philippines on Monday to persuade regional leaders to attend a global peace summit in Switzerland organised by Swiss over the war in Ukraine which he accuses Russia of trying to subvert with help from China.
Late Sunday, Zelenskyy arrived unannounced and under heavy security in Manila after speaking at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore over the weekend.
The Associated Press has two Filipino officials who said, without authorization to discuss details of Zelenskyy’s discreet visit to Manila, that he had hoped but failed to meet with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of that annual defense gathering and decided to fly here himself and invite Marcos personally for attendance at the summit planned in Switzerland.
Marcos, whose country has had mounting clashes with China over disputed islets in the South China Sea, made it clear on Friday at the defense forum that he is aware of how dangerous this regional hot spot can be. He said that if “a willful act” results in a dead Filipino during one of these periodic confrontations, “that is, I think, very, very close to what we define as an act of war.”
“That would certainly increase the level of response,” Marcos replied.
Marcos repeated his earlier concerns about a new Chinese law that authorizes its coast guard to arrest foreign ships “which illegally enter China’s territorial waters” and hold captive foreign crews for up to 60 days. The same law also referred back to legislation passed in 2021 allowing the coast guard of China to fire at foreign vessels as needed.
“Violations which are illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceitful go on being done against our sovereign rights to territories,” said Marcos without mentioning any country but adding that his home country Philippines remained committed to peaceful settlement of disputes.
Austin stated at the forum that America’s commitment to the Philippines as a treaty ally is ‘ironclad’ however stressed the need for talks with China.
“There are a number of things that can happen at sea or in the air, we recognize that,” he said. “But our goal is for us not allow things like that spiral out unnecessarily.”
