President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed to ramp up cooperation between their countries on defense and security amid increasing tensions over a territorial row with China. Photo from Official Facebook Page of Bongbong Marcos

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants the Philippines and Vietnam to “develop talks” with regard to the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) following reports of Vietnamese fishing vessels encroaching on the Philippine territory.

Speaking to reporters onboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR001, the President said he talked to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh about the incident during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Indonesia on Wednesday.

Marcos said he told the Vietnamese leader that an agreement should be made to prevent similar problems.

“I talked to the Prime Minister. We have to find a way,” the President said during a media interview on Thursday.

“I said we shouldn’t treat each other like that. We should talk sincerely,” he added.

Marcos said he had asked Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and his Vietnamese counterpart to find a way to avoid anything that could cause tension.

“It’s not contentious. It’s something we never have to worry about before, just now,” the President said.

“We should talk about this, this early so we could avoid trouble and similar incidents,” he added.

In March, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it had spotted Chinese and Vietnamese vessels in the waters around Sabina and Ayungin Shoals, and Pag-asa Island in Palawan from March 16 to 21.

The PCG had said it conducted a maritime patrol mission to the Kalayaan Island Group where several foreign-flagged vessels were sighted — including China Coast Guard Vessels and a People’s Liberation Army-Navy Type 056A Jiangdao II Class Missile Corvette.

Marcos earlier urged all involved parties to abide by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to ensure that the South China Sea does not become a “nexus for armed conflict.”

He also said he has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs and the PCG to identify and create a map of the Philippines’ fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea.

When asked about these fishing grounds, Marcos said he was referring to the areas “where fishermen used to fish and are being blockaded from fishing.”

The Philippines and other Asean members such as Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam hold different — and in some cases, overlapping — claims over the South China Sea.

In a 2016 arbitral ruling, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing’s nine-dash line, a demarcation that covers almost 80 percent of the South China Sea, is illegal.

Beijing has since ignored the ruling as it continued to beef up its presence in the contested territories.

Enhance BIMP-EAGA

In a related development, the President also called on the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) to enhance their partnership for the further development of the region.

In his intervention at the 15th BIMP-EAGA Summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on Thursday, Marcos noted the huge growth potential of the region.

“The BIMP-EAGA provides our common subregion, which has long been impaired by strife, with better access to viable economic opportunities,” the President said.

“So, let us continue this impetus for growth in the BIMP-EAGA, and thereby position our very own subregion as a well-connected, economically thriving, multi-country trade, investment, and tourism destination. There lies our future,” he added.

The President expressed the Philippines’ support for the increased focus of the BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025 on broad strategies to align subregional pandemic recovery and transformation efforts with the Asean Comprehensive Recovery Framework.

The focus will be on food security, creative industries and e-commerce, tourism recovery and green recovery.

He also noted how the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine demonstrated the need to maintain the physical connectivity that maximizes the potential of the region’s extensive and comprehensive logistics chain.

“Our collective effort towards rebuilding the air and sea linkages disrupted by geopolitical challenges and the pandemic still remains the key towards our full economic recovery,” he said.

But physical connectivity, the President said, should be complemented by making tourism an utmost priority during the pandemic recovery period.

“So, let us work together with our National Tourism Organizations and our private sector counterparts to breathe life into the Joint BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT Tourism Recovery Communications Plan 2022-2024. Let us spread the tidings that a visit to the BIMP-EAGA sub-region is a safe, stress-free return to nature,” Marcos said.