Filipinos have EU on their backs on the WPS issue

BAGUIO CITY (January 31, 2025) -- Filipinos have on their backs member-states of the European Union (EU) including its allies in their assertion of a rules-based international order over the West Philippine Sea, at the heels of China’s worsening aggression over the territory.

EU Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro primed of countries behavior always “adher(ing) to international rules-based order conducted on their territories and on international waters so as not to ignite conflicts among nations.”

The EU Ambassadors had a three-day visit here to assess and evaluate the implementation of EU-funded green economy, child labor and endeavors related to justice for the benefit of looking into avenues of strengthening EU-Philippines cooperation.

Ambassador Santoro made parallelism of the supposed conduct of states with the ongoing Russian and Ukraine war where the EU and its member states stood firm on the adherence of the feuding countries to the international rules-based order to peacefully settle their conflict to avoid the occurrence of wars.

According to him, the Philippines has been consistent in supporting the United Nations (UN) call for peaceful and rules-based settlement of disputes, “that is why the country deserves the needed support from the international community (vis-à-vis) the aggression by China in the West Philippine Sea.”

Santoro said that the Philippines enjoys the support of the international community on its quest for rule-based conduct in the WPS because it is backed by the 2016 UN arbitral ruling that upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) over it.