00:00In the eyes of the international community, some of your Philippines' behavior in recent days,
00:05recent times, it now sounds like you really consider other parties' comfort level and there
00:14is a risk of ruining the regional long-earned, long-lasting peace since the end of the,
00:21you know, colonial history. What's your comments on that? Thank you very much.
00:26Well, I cannot imagine what you must be referring to if the reference or the allusion is to
00:35the Philippines somehow tearing apart what we have agreed on in terms of ASEAN centrality.
00:47Quite the contrary. I think if you examine more closely the remarks that I just made,
00:55I precisely focus on ASEAN centrality and that the principles that are laid down,
01:02that are involved in the concept of ASEAN centrality, are some things that we must use
01:08to guide us. And if we have been distracted in the past years or so, then it's time for us to
01:15return and remember once again what ASEAN was created for, and that is to create an aggravation
01:23of nations that have very many common interests and that partnerships within that multilateral
01:36organization can help each other and help the region. And so the Philippines still remains
01:46true to the principles that were established and upon which ASEAN was born. And I think,
01:56as I said, that many of these things we no longer speak of today, but we must because they are as
02:06relevant today as they ever were, perhaps even more so, because the global situation is a great
02:16deal more complicated than it used to be before. I would even go far as to say there is no such
02:23thing as a regional issue any longer. We have all experienced the unexpected effects of the war in
02:34Ukraine, of the conflict in the Middle East, and all of these, and when we talk about the South
02:43China Sea, we have to also remember that the South China Sea is the passageway for half of
02:52the world trade, and therefore the peace and stability of the South China Sea and the freedom
02:58of navigation of the South China Sea is a world issue. And that is what I am proposing, and I am
03:04saying that this is a yes, it is a regional issue, but we must examine and be part of the discussion.
03:12We must include all parties in the discussion, because now it is not just ASEAN member states
03:19who are stakeholders, and it is quite easy to see that it is in fact the entire world
03:26that have become stakeholders in the peace and stability of our region.
03:42Thank you.
Comments