Marcos cheered, jeered in Canberra

The Australian Parliament lauded what it said was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s dedication to addressing the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, especially in the West Philippine Sea.

Peter Dutton, the leader of the Australian lawmakers belonging to the opposition, praised Marcos for his efforts in asserting Philippine rights in the disputed waters.

“Mr. President, we find ourselves in times of emboldened autocrats and belligerent regimes who show utter contempt for sovereignty, law, and liberty,” Dutton said before Marcos addressed the Parliament in Canberra.

“Your country shows a resolve because your country knows that the threats are real,” Dutton added.

Marcos was on an official visit on Wednesday and Thursday. He will return to Australia next week to attend a special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Melbourne.

The South China Sea, which China claims nearly in its entirety, overlaps the West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague affirmed in a ruling the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the WPS.

The arbitral court, in that decision, shot down as baseless Beijing’s claim to the SCS based on its nine-dash-line boundary, which it has since expanded to a 10-dash line.

In his last State of the Nation Address, Marcos vowed to protect Philippine sovereign rights and territorial integrity.

Dutton said Marcos’ position is “an imperative for all nations who cherish peace, prosperity, and the preservation of civilization itself.”

He added that like-minded nations like the Philippines and Australia must keep “speaking up with courage to call out acts of intimidation and interference.”

“We must all maintain our strenuous efforts at diplomacy, and we must all especially lift our individual efforts to support the collective goal of integrated deterrence,” Dutton said.

‘Stop abuses’

Several Australian senators, however, were unimpressed by Marcos’ speech, with one calling for a stop to “human rights abuses” in the Philippines.

Australian Senator Janet Rice of the Greens, Australia’s fourth-largest political party, raised a placard that read: “Stop the human rights abuses.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rice said the Marcos government was making corruption in the Philippines worse, and there were still hundreds of political prisoners.

“Under President Marcos Jr., corruption in the Philippines is getting worse. There are hundreds of political prisoners, and ‘anti-terrorism’ laws are used as legal cover for extrajudicial killings,” she said on X.

Besides Rice, three other senators from the Greens party also spoke out against Marcos’ appearance in Parliament.

The senators, namely, Jordon Steele-John, Barbara Pocock, and David Shoebridge, did not listen to Marcos’ speech but instead joined Filipinos protesting outside the Parliament building.

“While President Marcos Jr. gave a speech to the Parliament today, I was proud to protest in solidarity with the Australian-Filipino community outside. Stop the human rights abuses!” Steele-John said in a post on X.

“Geopolitical polarities and strategic competition threaten our hard-won peace even as we remain beset by unresolved inequities and inequalities within and among nations. Powerful and transformative technologies can destabilize our political and social order, and climate change threatens our very existence. These tectonic shifts are acutely felt in the Indo-Pacific,” Marcos told the Australian lawmakers.

Peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region have come “under threat,” he said.

World War II

“We have long known that our prosperity and development are anchored on the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific. Today, that peace, that stability, and our continued success have come under threat,” Marcos said.

“Once again, we must come as partners to face the common challenges confronting the region. Not one single country can do this by itself. No single force can counter them by themselves. This is why our strategic partnership grows more important now than ever,” he added.

Before Australian lawmakers, Marcos compared the current situation in the South China Sea to the Philippines’ experience during World War II.

“As in 1942, the Philippines now finds itself on the frontline against actions that undermine regional peace, erode regional stability, and threaten regional success,” Marcos said. “I will not allow any attempt by any foreign power to take even one square inch of our sovereign territory.”

Global peace

Marcos emphasized the importance of the Philippines’ role in preserving regional and global peace, saying that the security and continued prosperity of the region — of countries like Australia — rely upon that effort.

Before leaving for Canberra on Wednesday, Marcos called the presence of Chinese ships in the disputed waters and their interference with Philippine warships’ electronic communication systems “worrisome.”

“It’s worrisome because there are two elements to that. One is that previously, only the Coast Guard of China was operating in our area. Now, there’s the Navy, and fishing boats have joined. So, the situation is changing,” Marcos had said.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had expressed “grave concern” over recent Philippine actions in the South China Sea, claiming Manila was infringing on Beijing’s sovereignty.

“China’s position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. We will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and keep the South China Sea peaceful and stable,” she said.