Philippines prepares push for ASEAN meeting

The Philippines, which has been outspoken in its objections to China’s grandiose South China Sea claims, plans to use this week’s ASEAN leaders’ meeting in Bali to push for a united front. Via AFP: The Philippines’ foreign undersecretary for policy, Erlinda Basilio, said Aquino would raise his proposal at every opportunity at this week’s top-level ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The Philippines, which has been outspoken in its objections to China's grandiose South China Sea claims, plans to use this week's ASEAN leaders' meeting in Bali to push for a united front. Via AFP:

The Philippines, which has been outspoken in its objections to China’s grandiose South China Sea claims, plans to use this week’s ASEAN leaders’ meeting in Bali to push for a united front. Via AFP:

The Philippines’ foreign undersecretary for policy, Erlinda Basilio, said Aquino would raise his proposal at every opportunity at this week’s top-level talks in Bali, which will be joined by US President Barack Obama.

"We will try to enlighten them on the merits of our proposal and we will continue to do so because the president has enunciated a rules-based regime and the importance of international law," Basilio told reporters in Manila before heading to Bali.

"It’s like a stone — a constant pour of water will certainly erode, however hard the rock is," she said, expressing hope that a common ASEAN front would prod China into concessions.

The issue may also surface at the annual  East Asia Summit which will follow the ASEAN meeting. Presidents Obama and Hu both plan to be in Bali for the summit. They have markedly different takes on how South China Sea diplomacy should proceed. China opposes discussing the subject in multilateral fora and prefers bilateral negotiations, like the ones it conducted recently with Vietnam. U.S. policymakers have made clear their preference for keeping regional organizations involved. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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