Teodoro laments Asean’s ‘absence of unanimity on key issues’

Gilberto Teodoro Jr. —PHOTO FROM THE OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE OF THE PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. lamented the Asean member states’ “absence of unanimity on key issues.”

Teodoro made this known during his speech at the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Retreat on Wednesday, saying this could threaten the peace in the region.

“Asean has ensured the longest period of peace in any region since World War II,” Teodoro said.

“However, this peace is now under threat—not due to our incapacity to preserve it, but because of the absence of unanimity on key issues,” he added.

At one point, Teodoro also quoted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who said: “Silence in the face of violations diminishes Asean.”

In 2024, Marcos attended the Asean summit in Laos where the South China Sea issues were brought up.

The text of the President’s speech during a closed-door session in Vientiane stated that Marcos had urged Asean member states “not to turn a blind eye to the aggressive, coercive, and illegal actions of an external power against an Asean member state.”

Teodoro further reiterated that the country’s ongoing West Philippine Sea disputes with China is not merely a domestic or regional concern but a “global issue”.

“At the heart of this matter is the existential right of smaller states—Asean Member States in particular—to live in peace, secure their borders, and pursue their own destiny,” he said.

Apart from China and the Philippines, Asean member states such as Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam are also claimants of Spratly Islands inside the South China Sea.

Despite overlapping claims, Manila and Hanoi recently conducted an unprecedented maritime drills in the West Philippine Sea, which saw the practice of water cannon capabilities of both nations.

“We may not always agree, but the spirit of Asean compels us to cooperate where we can, consult where necessary, and act when we must,” Teodoro said.

Maritime features of Spratly inside the western section of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines — locally known as the West Philippine Sea — are being referred to as the Kalayaan Island Group.

China asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, through its now ten-dash-line.

A July 2016 arbitral award which stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013 already invalidated Beijing’s then nine-dash-line.