Aquino pushes for deeper US-ASEAN partnership
President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed hope that the United States and the 10 member nations of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will work together to promote a deeper and more harmonious US-ASEAN partnership, and continue stability and peace in the ASEAN region.
In his statement at the 2nd ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting held Friday (Saturday in Manila) at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, the President, who discussed the future direction of the ASEAN-US partnership, noted that the common desire of the US and the ASEAN to intensify their partnership comes at a particularly crucial time, thus it is imperative for the leaders to turn the ASEAN from a regular gathering of leaders into a fully multilateral organization and implement the ASEAN Charter.
“The task of our generation—the first generation of leaders to be born as independent citizens of our respective nations—is to turn this Charter into a more binding commitment to our mutual economic and political interests,” the President said.
The President noted that the ASEAN Charter, which provides the guiding principle for ASEAN’s engaging with the US, was adopted in 2008 and since then the ASEAN has been conscious in pursuing initiatives to build the ASEAN community along three pillars: political-security; economic; and socio-cultural.
The President also recognized the US as the Philippines’ staunchest partner in security cooperation in the region, and this will remain so throughout the course of his administration.
He also thanked the US government for participating in joint counter-terrorism efforts in Mindanao; for its support in developing Philippine defense capabilities through assistance and training programs; and for its assistance in times of natural disasters.
“There are many more opportunities for us and the United States to work together on initiatives such as human rights cooperation, science and technology, biodiversity conservation, and disaster management to build a cohesive socio-cultural community," the President said.
Aquino also recognized the United States’ commitment to reinvigorating its relationship with the ASEAN region and individual nations, at a time of ever-increasing complexity in global affairs.
“We, in turn, welcome this reinvigoration as it leads to timely clarity, allowing all of us to fully engage with each other. This can only lead to the fulfillment of our dreams for our peoples, which in the simplest possible terms is a better, more dignified life," he said.
The President also noted US’s support for the strengthening of the ASEAN regional architecture; the US interest in joining the East Asia Summit and its participation in the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The Chief Executive also expressed optimism the nautical highway proposed for the ASEAN will be developed to ensure the connectivity among the member nations.
“Forging public-private partnerships to address development issues is a key priority of my administration and I believe these partnerships will make the connectivity initiative in ASEAN a reality, the firm ground of ASEAN’s community-building goals,” the President said, stressing that much can be done through cooperation and consultation.
He also noted that the US is a major trading partner of ASEAN, and the association in turn has been one of the fastest growing export markets and host of US investments.
“I am confident that the ASEAN-US Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement will lead to an economically viable and strong ASEAN which in turn will lead to economic growth, job creation, and improved welfare of our peoples," he said.
On the other hand, he said the ASEAN expects the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity crafted by a group of visionaries to be ready for the ASEAN Summit next month.
Aquino also said the US and ASEAN must connect east and west through genuine cooperation, and can begin by sending a message to the world that ASEAN is a force for good.
“We have it in our hands to connect East and West, not in the ways that caused so much misunderstanding in the past, but rather, on the basis of what we can all hold in common today: a world in which our peoples and ourselves, have been born free citizens, and therefore, can engage in genuine cooperation. Let us begin by sending a message to the world: ASEAN is a force –for good, for peace, and for the continued prosperity of our respective peoples," the President said.
The President also brought up the territorial row over the Spratly Islands, where the Philippines is one of the claimants, as one of the issues that must be addressed through peaceful means.
“Today the issue that occupies a growing concern is the competing territorial claims within the South China Sea, including our own Kalayaan Islands. Such competing claims can serve as flashpoints for conflict as they did in the 1990s," he said.
The Spratly Islands is a group of small islands believed rich in natural resources, and contested by countries in the area, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and China.
Aquino said his administration remains committed to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and strongly supports the drafting of a formal code for the South China Sea in which claimants vow to adhere to diplomatic processes to resolve territorial disputes.
“I believe this is consistent with [US] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s pronouncements on the South China Sea made just in July of this year, supporting collaborative diplomatic processes. As a peace-loving country, the Philippines supports any efforts to deal with potential irritants in the most peaceful way possible," he said.
The Philippines is the current Country Coordinator of ASEAN-US relations. (PCOO)
Aquino sees China as an ally in peace and development
Much like the United States, President Benigno S. Aquino III said the Philippines sees China as an ally in peace and development rather than of conflict.
Thus, the President responded during the interview by members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, considered the most influential foreign policy think-tank in the US, in New York on Thursday afternoon (early morning Friday in Manila).
The President was asked on the rise of China and its current relations with the Philippines and other member countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
At present, the President said Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is already almost at par in terms of trade with the US, which still ranks as the Philippines’ largest export market and second largest supplier.
While the US takes no sides on the dispute in the South China Sea, the President said its security alliance and development partnership with the Philippines remains a steady anchor in the American engagement towards the Asia-Pacific.
“We can count on the treaties that we have signed with your government for a very long time and that I think all goes well for maintaining cordial relations with each other,” the President said.
The Philippines and China, together with Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, are laying claim to the international boundaries, rich fishing grounds, and possible oil deposits in the Spratly Islands, a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls and islands in the South China Sea.
The President said it is in the best interest of the region to transform the disputed area into a zone of peace, friendship and cooperation through sustained consultation and dialogue in accordance with international law.
The President added that conflict in the area would not benefit anyone.
“We are subscribing to the theory that if there is prosperity for everybody, it will be everybody’s interest to actually continue the status quo rather than have flashpoints that will lead to belligerency and possible altercations that we have no hope of winning,” the President said. (PCOO)
Aquino calls for greater international cooperation
In the face of climate change, pandemics, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, transnational organized crimes and the challenges posed by increasingly interconnected economies, President Benigno S. Aquino III called on the members of the United Nations General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) to “further strengthen international cooperation.”
Speaking at the 65th UNGA in New York City on Friday evening (Saturday morning in Manila), the President said the UN was founded on the belief that in collective security comes from collective action. “It is when nations reach across their borders that immense problems of our age begin to be manageable,” he said.
In the same vein, Aquino said, global progress means equitable progress which is based on the “quest for universal human dignity that should not be defined by geographical, racial or cultural boundaries not should it be set back by our desires to move our own nations forward.”
He then spoke of the evident vulnerability and inequality in the global effort to address climate change. “Those who stand to lose much, if not everything, from the effects of man-induced climatic conditions are those who did little to cause it,” the President said.
The President highlighted the importance of “ensuring, as a matter of justice, that countries, particularly the vulnerable, are assisted in their adaptation and disaster-risk reduction efforts and are provided the necessary resources to build climate-resilient communities.”
“We do not need flood and famine to remind ourselves that there is much more that must be given, because there are so many more that deserve the hope of a better life,” President Aquino said.
The most immediate focus of cooperation, he said, is to collectively ensure that the eight Millennium Development Goals will be achieved in the remaining five years. “This is a daunting task and we are all aware that national resolve has to be complemented by bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation,” the President added.
He then said his administration is committed to “channel the gains from public private partnerships into social service like those in health, education and poverty alleviation.”
He said the Philippines remains committed to “G77 and other efforts towards enhancing South-South cooperation and articulating and promoting our collective economic interests.”
The President said “for so many times in our history, my people have shown that, united, nothing is impossible. We called it People Power.”
“It is my earnest hope and in the greatest interest of humanity that we harness the energies of dialogue, solidarity and communal responsibility so that a global People Power toward equitable progress may be achieved,” he said. (PCOO)
UN Secretary-General welcomes President Aquino’s commitment to RP continued active role in promoting global peace and security
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked President Benigno S. Aquino III for the Philippines’ continued active role in the promotion of global peace and security.
Meeting for the first time in New York Friday afternoon (Saturday morning in Manila) at the 65th United Nations General Assembly, President Aquino and Secretary-General Ban discussed the country’s leading role in the areas of peacekeeping and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
President Aquino told Secretary-General Ban that the Philippines remains ready to support the UN peacekeeping operations.
The Philippines is the third largest troop contributing country to the UN peacekeeping force in Southeast Asia and 23rd worldwide.
The Philippine President also expressed the country’s commitment to continue playing a vital role in building on the success of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Philippines led the successful 2010 Review Conference last May under the presidency of Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan, the Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
President Aquino and Secretary-General Ban also discussed the Philippines’ progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs are a set of eight time-bound, concrete and specific targets aimed at significantly reducing, if not decisively eradicating poverty by 2015.
With only five years left until the deadline to achieve the MDGs, Secretary-General Ban called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on September 20 to 22 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.
The 4th MDG Progress Report indicated that the Philippines is likely to meet the goals on food poverty; gender equality in education; child mortality; malaria morbidity; detection and treatment success and cure rates of tuberculosis cases; and access to sanitary toilet facilities.
During the meeting, President Aquino stressed the Philippine Government’s commitment to redouble its efforts on particular targets such as income poverty; nutrition; dietary energy requirement; access to safe drinking water; participation, cohort survival and completion rates in elementary education; maternal mortality; access to reproductive health services; and prevalence of HIV and AIDS.
“There is much the Philippines has to do to meet the MDGs. Sustained economic growth will only partially address the issues the country faces. The Philippine Government is committed to eliminate, if not reduce, corruption and improve transparency to ensure government funds are spent on what’s necessary,” the President said. (PCOO)
