Help from Asean nations to counter China is unlikely: ex-Philippine Navy officer

Manila should strengthen coordination with Southeast Asian nations on its policy towards China, a retired Philippine naval officer said on Monday, as engagement with Washington alone risks potential stronger resistance by Beijing over the contested South China Sea.

“I believe that we made some mistakes … we could have engaged at least most of the Asean member states that are surrounding the South China Sea more effectively [and] we could have consulted them [about] our action because they do not agree with our China policy,” said Rommel Ong, a former vice-commander in the Philippine Navy.

However, Ong said he was “not optimistic” that the Philippines could convince Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states to support Manila’s concerns.

“We have to accept that China successfully divided Asean,” he said at a discussion in Washington. “The efficacy of China’s geo-economic strategy in Asean worked well for them and has allowed them to exert some form of leverage over the different Asean member state capitals, particularly in terms of influencing the political and economic elites of these countries.”

China and four Asean member states – Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines – have overlapping maritime claims to the resource-rich South China Sea, and Manila has been the most forceful in pushing back against Beijing.

The Chinese government has blamed Washington for supporting Manila in the South China Sea encounters.

  

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