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How can EU support Philippines in the South China Sea dispute? (www.dw.com)

submitted 1 year ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de

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Over the past year, the U.S. has strongly reiterated that it would fulfill its obligation to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if China was to attack the Philippine military. However, the European position is more opaque.

Since 2022, the Philippines has signed new defense agreements with the EU and the UK, while France is hoping to ink a visiting forces agreement to allow its troops access to Philippine military bases.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have deployed naval warships to the South China Sea for freedom of navigation exercises (FONOPs) in recent years, while Italy is reportedly planning to send its flagship aircraft carrier "Cavour" to the region later this year.

In mid-March, EU special envoy to the Indo-Pacific region Richard Tibbels said that European states want to conduct port calls and joint naval exercises with the Philippines as part of a plan to have a more coordinated maritime presence "further east in the Indo-Pacific region."

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Last week, China's coast guard shot a water cannon at a Philippine boat on a supply mission to an outpost on Second Thomas Shoal, injuring crew members and damaging the small vessel.

To back up its claim to Second Thomas Shoal, the Philippines maintains an outpost on a navy transport ship, the Sierra Madre, which is intentionally grounded on the reef, and is manned by a group of marines.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responded that Chinese vessels "continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests."

"We really have a strong interest in making sure that freedom of navigation and overflight continues and that the global trading system is not affected by increasing tensions in the region," Tibbels told the Associated Press this month.

The EU "does not have enough military means to deter the use of force nor to weigh decisively on the course of events should a conflict erupt in the region," said Mathieu Droin, a visiting fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

On March 18, the EU and the Philippines agreed to resume talks over a free trade agreement that had stalled in 2017 over European complaints about human rights violations committed by the government of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

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