Bayan Muna calls for South China Sea demilitarization

MILITANT group Bayan Muna has called on President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to initiate a United Nations (UN) joint resolution calling for the demilitarization of the South China Sea to stop tensions from further escalating in the region.

Bayan Muna Chairman Neri J. Colmenares said in a statement on Tuesday that the joint military exercises being performed by the United States and Australia could escalate tensions over the contested waters in South China Sea.

“The joint patrols and military exercises conducted by the US and Australia… could lead to further escalation of tension,” he said, as China held naval patrol exercises in an apparent response to the joint military drills with the United States, Japan and Australia within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“There is a need to demilitarize the South China Sea, considering China’s military superiority in the region,” Mr. Colmenares added.

China has militarized some islands within the Philippines’ EEZ backed with an armada of coast guard vessels strengthening their hold over the disputed waters.

The Philippines’ effort to resupply a grounded ship off the Second Thomas Shoal has been repeatedly blocked by China’s naval force, a development that has resulted in the injury of Filipino troops as a water cannon was fired at a Philippine vessel trying to deliver supplies.

Mr. Colmenares also recommended that Southeast Asian countries take part in joint maritime activities and freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.

“Bayan Muna has long proposed the conduct of joint maritime and air patrols led by ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries being trampled by China,” he said.

These patrols should be civilian-led to prevent further escalation with Beijing, he added. “These joint patrols… must be civilian in nature to stem the flow of human trafficking, drugs, smuggling and destruction of the marine environment in the South China Sea.”

For Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, the proposal for ASEAN to lead the demilitarization effort is sensible. “But domestic politics, as well as ASEAN internal dynamics, will make the path forward very challenging,” he said. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio