(UPDATE) HOURS after the Philippines and Australia signed an agreement to enhance maritime cooperation, China issued a warning against actions that undermine the stability of the Indo-Pacific region.
The agreement is one of three signed during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s visit to Australia last Wednesday.
The two others involve cyber and critical technology and effective competition policies.
Malacañang said the maritime pact aims at building up civil-military cooperation and promoting international law and a rules-based order in the region.
In a statement shared by the Chinese embassy in Manila on Thursday night, Mao Ning, deputy director of the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Information Department, said the South China Sea “is generally stable. Relevant countries’ maritime security cooperation should not undermine other countries’ interests or disrupt regional peace and stability.”
Addressing the Australian Parliament in Canberra hours earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sought the support of Australia and other allies in its territorial disputes with China.
Marcos vowed he would not allow any foreign power to take “even one square inch” of Philippine territory.
“As in 1942, the Philippines now finds itself on the frontline against actions that undermine regional peace, erode regional stability, and threaten regional success.
“Then as now, we remain firm in defending our sovereignty, our sovereign rights, our jurisdiction,” Marcos said, referring to the year World War 2 broke out in the Pacific.
The President earlier described as “worrisome” recent developments in the West Philippine Sea, including the presence of Chinese Navy ships and the jamming of electronic communications of Philippine vessels.
Marcos emphasized that peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific have come “under threat.”
The term “Indo-Pacific” is used by the US to define the region that extends from the coastlines of the Indian subcontinent to the western shore of the Americas.
The Indo-Pacific comprises 40 countries, among them some of the world’s largest economies like China, India, Japan and Australia.
