(Eagle News)–For President Bongbong Marcos, the “continued stability” of the Indo-Pacific Region “requires China and the United States to manage that rivalry in a responsible manner.”
In his keynote address at the opening of the 21st edition of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the President said China’s determining influence over the security situation and the economic evolution of the region is permanent.
The stabilizing presence of America, meanwhile, is crucial to regional peace.
“It is never a choice. Both countries are important,” he said.
He said nations in the Indo-Pacific must reject any attempt to deny their strategic agencies, especially by forces that seek to subordinate their interests.
He said the global community must adhere to the rules-based international order governed by international law and informed by principles of equity and of justice, stressing the need to reaffirm them such as those enshrined in the UN Charter that was negotiated in San Francisco in 1945, the Bangkok Declaration that established ASEAN in 1967, and the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes adopted unanimously by the UN in 1982.
“The past inspires the needed clarity and foresight to confront the challenges of the present, and to build the future to which we all aspire,” he said.
