Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-F9z
MANILA (June 26, 2024) — Amid the backdrop of daily headlines about confrontations between Filipino and Chinese naval personnel in the South China Sea, Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson highlighted longstanding ties between their two countries in back-to-back remarks at the East-West Center (EWC) International Media Conference in Manila on Wednesday.
The two senior diplomats also painted each of their nations as champions of press freedom, even as false information and digital fakes increasingly proliferate with the help of artificial intelligence.
(Listen to audio recordings of Manalo’s and Carlson’s remarks.)
Press freedom ‘under attack’
“This gathering could not have come at a more crucial time,” Secretary Manalo told the audience of some 350 journalists and media professionals from around 30 countries, primarily in the Indo-Pacific region. “The ability of the press to report on global events and the ability of people to appreciate and understand these events is under sustained attack from disinformation and cyberattacks. Many, many countries, including the Philippines, have been targeted by malign actors, wantonly exploiting technology to distort and manipulate facts, as so-called ‘alternate realities’ drown out the truth and adversely affect the public discourse.”
Although the Philippines sits near the bottom quarter of Reporters Without Borders’ global Press Freedom Index, plagued by issues such as online harassment, legal charges, violent attacks, and even killings targeting journalists, Manalo said the current Marcos government “has been working hand-in-hand with the media to ensure that the public possesses the facts.”
Such efforts, he said, “form an essential part of our commitment to a rules-based international order and our determination to protect and preserve our sovereign rights and jurisdiction, especially in the West Philippine Sea [the country’s name for the portion of the South China Sea that sits within the Philippines’ 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ]. … Our friends in the media have been able to report on these developments freely, without force and intimidation from government.”
Ambassador Carlson expressed similar sentiments, saying: “As journalists, you are on the front lines covering conflicts and crises, elections, and important global meetings that chart the future of our planet, and every other manner of major events. Let me assure you that here in the Philippines, I’m reading what you write, and I know that my fellow ambassadors and others across this region and around the world are doing the same. Your reporting is essential for us to understand when our strategy is working, when it isn’t, and how we need to adjust. And in a large, complex, dynamic region like the Indo-Pacific, that perspective is absolutely essential.”
At the same time, Carlson acknowledged that even in the US, whose own Press Freedom Index ranking has been declining in recent years and now sits below that of 54 other nations out of 180 in the rankings, “there are pockets everywhere, including in our own country, where we can’t say that freedom of the press is always on a perfect trajectory. We see journalists being harassed in our own country.”
In March, a Chinese Coast Guard ship fired a water cannon at a Philippine vessel conducting a routine resupply mission to troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
A new ‘great game’?
In regard to the more than 70-year-old formal Philippines-US mutual defense alliance that Carlson described as “ironclad,” the ambassador referenced Manalo’s earlier comments on what he called a “false narrative” that the ongoing incidents with China over disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea are merely a stage for great-power rivalry in the region, and that the Philippines is merely a pawn in the new ‘great game.’ This reductionist view muddles understanding of the complex situation on the ground or the sea and detracts from the real crux of the issue: that a country is choosing to ignore or is reinterpreting international law … and hence the legitimate rights and interests of coastal states such as the Philippines are affected.”
“We heard Secretary Manalo say that the Philippines has an agenda that stands on its own,” Carlson said later. “And, as our partner, we support that they are not a pawn in a great-power game.”
At the same time, she said, “they occupy what some people call essential geography. And as a nation with more water than land, it has unique challenges, especially in an era of climate change. That’s why it’s so important that the US and the Philippines are working together.”
Carlson pointed out that the US is home to about 4.5 million Filipino-Americans, and that some 700,000 Americans live in the Philippines — more than the resident American populations in Japan and Korea combined, two other key US allies in Asia. “So those close connections animate the US-Philippine relationship in a way that is very significant and would be the case no matter what big nations are doing in the region,” she said.
However, she asserted, “it is certainly in our interest to ensure that bullying behavior does not go unchecked, not only for ourselves, but for the rest of the globe. … We are urging the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to cease harassment of Philippine vessels lawfully operating in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); to halt its disruption of states’ sovereign rights to explore, utilize, conserve, and manage natural resources in their own EEZs; and to end interference with the freedoms of navigation and overflight of all states’ lawful operation, not only in this region, but around the world.” (♤)
_________
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the East-West Center or of any other organization.
Neither of SDN — SciTech & Digital News.
_________
The East-West Wire is a news, commentary, and analysis service provided by the East-West Center in Honolulu. All or any part of the Wire content may be used by media with attribution to the East-West Center or the person quoted. To receive Wire articles via email, subscribe here. For links to all East-West Center media programs, fellowships and services, see EastWestCenter.org/Journalists.
Copyright © 2024 East-West Center, all rights reserved.