Manila: The Philippines will see to it that maritime security remains a priority of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), National Security Adviser Eduardo A±o said on Friday. "As the ASEAN chair (this year), the Philippines will work to ensure that maritime security remains central to ASEAN centrality. We will explore mechanisms that enable a more coherent, coordinated, and integrated approach to maritime governance," A±o said at the Stratbase Institute forum, "Safeguarding the Maritime Domain of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific."
According to Philippines News Agency, A±o added that the Philippines will do its best to advance practical cooperation in maritime domain awareness, strengthen maritime exercises, and reinforce principled language anchored in international law. "ASEAN centrality must be principled and grounded in respect for sovereignty and the peaceful settlement of disputes," A±o said, adding that developments beyond the ASEAN region reinforce the urgency of safeguarding maritime domain.
A±o highlighted that disruptions in key choke points elsewhere, militarization in contested waters, and heightened cross-strait sensitivities demonstrate that maritime instability anywhere has global implications. He also emphasized that defending maritime domain equates to defending global stability. "When the seas are secure, the rules that sustain peace and commerce remain strong. The experience in the West Philippine Sea reminds us that international law must be operational, not rhetorical," he said.
A±o also pointed out that maritime security is a collective good that no single state can safeguard alone. "The Indo-Pacific will remain free and open only if it remains governed by law, sustained by cooperation, and protected through shared responsibility. Let us therefore move from ambition to implementation, from principles to operational cooperation, and from shared concerns to shared commitment," he added.
Ensuring the Indo-Pacific remains stable is of vital importance, A±o noted, as 60 percent of global trade passes through its sea lanes, while the majority of global digital traffic travels through submarine cables beneath these waters. "Energy flows, food systems, logistic networks, and financial markets all depend on open and secure maritime routes. When maritime stability is disrupted, the consequences are systemic rather than regional," he said.
Moreover, A±o mentioned that the Indo-Pacific is home to some of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. However, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing continues to threaten food security, livelihoods, and marine sustainability. Climate change further compounds these vulnerabilities through rising sea levels, warming waters, and coral degradation.
As this developed, A±o expressed deep concern over China's continued illegal activities in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), amid escalating maritime challenges that threaten its sovereignty, security, and sustainable development in the area. "We continue to observe illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive gray zone tactics, including illegal presence, swarming operations, obstruction of lawful resupply missions, collisions and ramming, dangerous maneuvers at sea, water cannoning and laser pointing incidents, militarization of artificial islands, deployment of maritime militias," he said.
China's continued resource interference, unilateral employment of domestic regulations over international waters, and other coercive activities are designed to alter facts in the water while remaining below the threshold of armed conflict.
