Philippines backs China as credible mediator
Published on: Tuesday, May 17, 2022
By:
Philstar, AFP
Locsin stated that Russia’s indecency, brutality and deliberate targeting prompted the P’pines to cast in the United Nations the first vote condemning the Russian aggression.
MANILA: The Philippines believes that the global isolation of Russia will serve only to dilute the three major resolutions that have already established the illegality and indecency of the latter’s attack on Ukraine, as Manila voiced support for China as a “credible” mediator in the conflict.“Singling out a state for global isolation has not served the international community. Do we want another North Korea, next door to North Korea, but spanning 11 time zones and swimming in oil and floating on gas? It wouldn’t be, as the USSR was once dismissed, Upper Volta with missiles,”
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Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said at a meeting with United States President Joseph Biden Jr. on regional and global issues during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-US Special Summit in Washington last Saturday.
Locsin was referring to the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Philippines’ top diplomat stated that the indecency of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the brutality of its methods and the deliberate targeting of the softest targets – children and mothers – prompted the Philippines to cast in the United Nations the first vote condemning the Russian aggression, its vote deploring the humanitarian crises created and its vote to suspend Russian membership in the UN Human Rights Council.
“A credible mediator may be needed. I can think of no other than China whose strength and success, even in these worst of times, qualifies it for the respect of the United States and Russia,” Locsin said.
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He noted that he sees the important role that China alone can fill in the current crisis on the other side of the world.
The Biden administration has made some headway in Southeast Asia in isolating Russia, with all 10 ASEAN nations either supporting or abstaining in a UN General Assembly vote of condemnation.
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In a joint statement after the summit, the United States and ASEAN said they “reaffirm our respect for sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity” in Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping at his own virtual summit with ASEAN last year announced $1.5 billion in Covid aid over three years, while the United States is preparing a $40 billion package for embattled Ukraine.
Biden is expected to announce a broad “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” when he travels this to Japan and South Korea.
The latest package for ASEAN, which follows $100 million announced by Biden at a virtual summit last year, includes initiatives to back green energy and maritime security, with the US Coast Guard to deploy a cutter in Southeast Asia to help fight illegal fishing and other crime.
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