PH spotlights South China Sea, ‘fragmenting world’ in ASEAN defense chiefs’ meeting

The ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, or ADMM, brings together defense ministers from Southeast Asia. ADMM-Plus expands that forum by including ASEAN’s dialogue partners. These meetings matter because they create a regular channel for regional defense cooperation and discussion of shared security problems.

The article identifies eight ADMM-Plus partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Ministers and working groups discuss regional security, disaster risk reduction, underwater critical infrastructure, food and energy security, and preparedness for super El Niño.

All 11 Southeast Asian defense chiefs were expected to participate in Cebu, alongside almost all the plus-country counterparts. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japan Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro attended. China’s Dong Jun did not attend; Beijing sent its defense attaché in Manila instead.

ASEAN includes countries with very different political, economic, and security relationships with China. That diversity can make common positions difficult, especially over the South China Sea. The Philippines therefore urged members to preserve unity even when their national interests or China ties differ.

Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said ASEAN’s strength lies in its diversity, but differences must not divide the group internally. He linked unity to shared principles, including mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes, and rejecting threats or the use of force.

The warning came during tense Philippines-China relations. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, while several ASEAN members have overlapping maritime claims. Teodoro said disputes, including those in the South China Sea, should be settled through peaceful and legal means. The broader aim is to protect ASEAN centrality in a fragmenting world.

The South China Sea matters internationally because it carries up to a third of global trade, according to the article. It is also disputed by China and several ASEAN members. Security in such a heavily used waterway affects regional stability and the interests of countries that depend on its trade routes.

China claims almost the entire sea, while ASEAN members including the Philippines have overlapping maritime claims and entitlements. In the West Philippine Sea, which includes the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, those disputes have produced recurring confrontations between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces.

That pattern makes the sea an ASEAN-wide concern, not simply a bilateral Philippines-China issue. ASEAN defense officials are discussing regional security and peaceful dispute settlement while tensions continue. The article does not describe a trade disruption, but the waterway’s scale means worsening insecurity could carry consequences beyond Southeast Asia.

The main competing claims involve China and several ASEAN members, including the Philippines. China claims almost all of the South China Sea based on what it describes as a historical claim. Those claims overlap with the maritime claims and entitlements of other Southeast Asian countries.

The Philippines refers to part of its exclusive economic zone as the West Philippine Sea. The article says overlapping claims there have led to recurring confrontations between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces around some areas and features. These disputes therefore involve both legal entitlements and control of contested maritime spaces.

The article gives the key legal development but not the award’s detailed reasoning. It says the landmark 2016 Arbitral Award deemed China’s supposed historical claim invalid. Teodoro’s position is that such differences should be settled through peaceful and legal means, rather than threats or force.

Repeated maritime confrontations can raise the risk of escalation and make regional security less predictable. They also strain diplomatic relations between the countries involved. In the South China Sea, the stakes are especially high because several ASEAN members are claimants and the waterway carries up to one-third of global trade.

The article gives a concrete example in the West Philippine Sea, an area that includes the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Overlapping claims have produced recurring confrontations between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces in some areas and features. Those encounters are part of the wider Philippines-China tension.

For ASEAN, continued confrontations can test internal unity and complicate its effort to uphold peaceful dispute settlement. They also place pressure on the bloc to protect regional security while members maintain different relationships with China. The article does not report a trade shutdown, but the waterway’s global importance gives any deterioration wider international significance.

The Philippines is strengthening defense ties with the United States and Japan amid tense relations with China. The article presents this as part of Manila’s response to recurring maritime confrontations and its broader effort to navigate disputes in the South China Sea. The partnerships also shape the security setting around ASEAN.

As ADMM chair, Teodoro was scheduled to preside over separate informal meetings with the United States and Japan. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japan Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro participated in the Cebu meetings. These contacts show the Philippines using defense diplomacy alongside its ASEAN role.

Closer US and Japanese ties do not erase ASEAN’s diversity. Other members have different relationships with China, so the bloc must avoid being divided internally. Teodoro urged unity, sovereignty, and peaceful legal settlement. The Philippines must therefore deepen partnerships while still steering an inclusive ASEAN process involving China and other dialogue partners.

The article invokes sovereignty and territorial integrity as principles binding ASEAN, but it does not define them. Generally, sovereignty means a state has supreme legal authority over its territory. Territorial integrity means other states should respect its territory and borders rather than seize or alter them by force.

An exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, is a maritime area in which a coastal state has special rights to explore, use, conserve, and manage natural resources. It is not the same as full territorial sovereignty. The article identifies the West Philippine Sea as including the Philippines’ EEZ, where Philippine and Chinese claims overlap.

These concepts matter because maritime disputes can involve different kinds of rights and authority. China’s broad South China Sea claim overlaps with the maritime claims and entitlements of several ASEAN members. Teodoro’s proposed approach is peaceful and legal settlement, supported by respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.