Did Marcos Jr. get EDCA right?

appreciate what’s happening in the broader region, namely how our neighbors are beginning to resist bullying in the South China Sea.

Following the departure of Beijing-friendly Najib Razak in 2018, Malaysian leaders, beginning with Mahathir Mohammad, began taking an increasingly assertive stance in the South China Sea. In a bolt-from-the-blue move in late2019, Malaysia filed an extended continental shelf claim to the United Nations in order to fortify its sovereign rights claims in southwestern portions of the South China Sea basin.

When Beijing complained, then Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah minced no words, dismissing China’s expansive claims as “ridiculous” and, taking inspiration from the Philippines’ arbitration ruling in 2016, even threatened to embark on international arbitration to defend his country’s lawful claims.

Despite constant harassment by Chinese maritime forces, Malaysia’s Petronas, has been conducting energy exploration activities in areas that fall within Beijing’s nine-dash line claims. The move, which began in 2020, reflected a major shift in Malaysia’s historically acquiescent China policy.

Natuna islands, which overlap with the southernmost tip of Beijing’s vaguely defined ninedash line, to openly challenge China’s intrusive presence in the area. The Indonesian leader was firm and uncompromising: “We have a district here, a regent, and a governor here. There are no more debates. De facto, de jure, Natuna is Indonesia.”

Jakarta also expanded its military presence in the area to make its uncompromising position clear. Similar to the Philippines, which named its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea, Indonesia began to rename energy-rich waters off its northern islands as North Natuna Sea.

As for Vietnam, where antiBeijing sentiments are a national pastime, compromise with China was always out of question, at least officially. In fact, the communist nation has not only bolstered its military and coast guard capabilities in adjacent waters, but it has also openly warned of potential “arbitration and litigation measures” against China over expansive disputes from the Paracel to the Spratly Islands.

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Almost simultaneously, neighboring Indonesia also began to push back against China.

In early-2020, President Joko Widodo visited the energy-rich

But just when Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam began to resist China’s expansionism in adjacent waters, the Philippines was under the thumb of Rodrigo Duterte, who openly extolled the virtues of being “meek” in exchange for China’s “mercy.”

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education budget, can continue to make a difference in elevating public education and improving the prospects for students across California.

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Did Marcos Jr. get EDCA...

The ex-mayor undermined the Philippines’ strategic position by constantly belittling the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, our own armed forces’ capabilities, and the value of the Philippine-U.S. military alliance. Against this backdrop, President Marcos’ foreign policy thrust is a belated correction of Duterte’s misguided policies. But Mr. Marcos has to ensure that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) doesn’t end