The International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) opposed the proposed visiting forces agreement between the Philippines and New Zealand as it will heighten the already heated tension in the Indo-Pacific Region, particularly in the disputed territory in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.
“Earlier this month, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters and the Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo announced that they would enter into a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) later this year. A VFA between the two countries is an agreement to have closer military ties making it easier for the armed forces of the two countries to work together,” says ICHRP Global Council Member Sheryl Cadman in a statement sent to The City Post. “ICHRP condemns this agreement purported to ‘ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific’. It will do the opposite and further heighten tensions between the USA and China in the South China Sea.”
Marcos Jr.’s “military brokering” is dangerous
Cadman said that it seems that the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration has been “brokering” military agreements left and right, which puts the peace and safety situation in the Philippines in peril.
“The newly proposed VFA with New Zealand echoes the VFAs that the Philippine Government has previously signed with the USA and Australia, and adds to the increasing number of new military agreements brokered by the Marcos Jr regime. Since the beginning of his term, Marcos Jr. has struck updated military agreements with the US, penned memorandums of understanding with Canada and the UK, and is currently in talks to form VFA-like agreements with France, Japan, and now New Zealand,” she said.
“These military agreements further embolden the fascist Philippine military to violate human rights and international humanitarian law against valiant Filipinos who are defending their national sovereignty and longing for genuine democracy, social justice, and just peace. These agreements amplify the increasing US militarization of the Asia-Pacific and do nothing to further peace in the region,” she furthered.
“Tensions are high in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea with both China and the US using the waters around the Philippines as a zone for their ongoing competition for influence in the region,” Cadman said.
Earlier, geopolitical experts said that it appears that the Philippines has become a “proxy” for the United States against the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as tension also heats up between two of the world’s superpowers.
Last April, Dr. Maria Lourdes Tiquia, chief executive officer of the think-tank PUBLiCUS Asia said in a Global Times interview that non-regional countries should remain “neutral players” when it comes to the ongoing territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
New Zealand should not sign the proposed VFA
On the other hand, ICHRP called on the Kiwi government not to sign any proposed military exercises agreement and not risk the peace and safety of the Philippines.
“As New Zealand lines up with Australia and the USA, the prospect for peace diminishes and the people of the Philippines find themselves in the dangerous position of being on the front line in the escalating tensions between the two superpowers. In the interests of peace for the people of the Philippines, ICHRP calls on the government of New Zealand to uphold an independent foreign policy, to junk the VFA, and to use its diplomacy and influence to call for a just peace in the Philippines. We further call on people around the globe to rise in opposition to the growing war-mongering of the US and its allies in the Asia-Pacific,” Cadman explained. (NOEL SALES BARCELONA)
