Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday that territorial disputes in the South China Sea “keeps him up at night” and said any conflict in the area would be disastrous for the world.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Marcos Jr. was referencing long-standing disputes between China and his country, along with other nations in and around the South China Sea, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
“[The dispute] keeps you up at night, keeps you up in the day, keeps you up most of the time … It’s very dynamic, it’s constantly in flux so you have to pay attention to it,” Marcos Jr. said.
By Marcos Jr.’s account, the cause of the dispute is clear.
“We have no conflicting claims with China. What we have is China making claims on our territory,” he said, adding that “nobody wants to go to war. We don’t. China doesn’t. The United States doesn’t.”
Marcos Jr. also claimed that tensions in the region have already affected trade in the area.
The Philippines have filed hundreds of diplomatic complaints with China over the years, including nearly 200 in 2022. Sixty-five of those complaints came after Marcos Jr. came into office in June.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Marcos Jr. met in Beijing earlier this month, but Marcos Jr. said he did not try to resolve the issue at that time. “When I spoke to President Xi, I prefaced our discussion by saying we are not going to decide here today the issues that are between the Philippines and China in terms of territoriality,” noting he did raise the issue of the Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels entering contested areas.
Both a war in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China or between China and Taiwan, which Marcos Jr. said would put the Philippines on “the front line,” would have a significant impact not only in the region but the world.
“All of us were quite surprised, especially us in the Philippines, to think that [Russia’s special operation in Ukraine] would affect agriculture in the Philippines,” Marcos said.
“If a similar situation would arise in the region, then it would be actually, I would say, it would be disastrous for the rest of the world.”