China’s provocations finally bring Australia and the Philippines together

Manila: As two maritime democracies and United States treaty allies, Australia and the Philippines should be natural partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Yet the bilateral relationship has been so undercooked it carried the risk of salmonella - a fact foreign policy officials readily concede but struggle to explain.

It’s taken a mutual wariness, and even alarm, about China’s economic coercion and territorial expansionism to bond the two nations together.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos jnr at the presidential palace in Manila.Credit: AAP

South-East Asian nations such as Singapore and Malaysia have previously figured far more prominently in Australia’s strategic thinking, despite the fact the Philippines, a nation of 114 million people, has a much larger overall population and diaspora community in Australia.

And, until now, young Filipinos have not been able to have working holidays in Australia – unlike young Vietnamese, Thais, Indonesians and Malaysians.

By sandwiching a visit to Manila between multilateral summits in Indonesia and India on Friday, Anthony Albanese has sent a deliberate message to the Philippines, and other countries in the region, that the days of neglect are no more.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese being welcomed by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, at the Malacanang palace, alongside Albanese’s partner Jodie Haydon and Marcos’ wife Louise Marcos. Credit: Getty

Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the regional leaders who will be closely watching the blossoming friendship, in Xi’s case with a raised eyebrow.

While Malcolm Turnbull visited the Philippines twice for international summits when he was in office, it is telling that Albanese’s trip to Manila on Friday was the first standalone bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister in 20 years, since John Howard paid a visit in 2003 to then-president Gloria Arroyo to discuss how to combat terrorism.

Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos jnr, who had been urging Albanese to make the trip, showed his gratitude by presiding over a lavish welcome ceremony at the presidential palace.

The event included a jaunty performance of Waltzing Matilda on traditional bamboo instruments.

Marcos’s predecessor Rodrigo Duterte was a notorious human rights abuser who sidelined the Philippines’ traditional closeness with the US by cosying up to Beijing.

By contrast, the suave Marcos has given the US military expanded access to Philippine bases and pushed back on Beijing’s territorial expansionism in the South China Sea. He’s also more enthusiastically backed AUKUS than any other South-East Asian leader.

The Chinese Coast Guard allegedly used a water cannon against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.Credit: Reuters

A clash last month, in which Chinese coastguards fired a water cannon on a Philippine boat, heightened tensions between the two nations. So did Beijing’s provocative decision to release a new national map claiming maritime territory that, according to the United Nations, belongs to the Philippines.

During the ceremony in Manila, Marcos thanked Albanese for making “very clear that the claims that are being made upon our Philippine maritime territory, are not valid and have not been recognised, and are not in conjunction or consistent with international law”.

Albanese, in turn, committed to defending international law in the South China Sea, saying: “We regard the presence of an open, stable and prosperous region as being absolutely critical.”

Albanese and Marcos’s official upgrading of the bilateral relationship to a “strategic partnership” and introduction of reciprocal working holiday visas follows unprecedented joint military exercises last month in which Australian and Philippine troops staged the retaking of an island in the South China Sea.

Joint Australia-Philippines naval patrols through the contested waters, also the first of their kind, are set to follow soon.

Albanese’s Manila trip shows the delicate two-step routine he is trying to pull off as he prepares to head to China by the end of the year.

On the one hand, he is seeking to repair economic relations with Australia’s largest trading partner. On the other, he wants to deter Beijing from pushing its military ambitions into dangerous territory. That’s where closer ties with nations such as Japan, India and now the Philippines come into play.

While there is still much potential left untapped – especially on the trade side – a relationship that has been undervalued for too long is finally having its moment in the sun.

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