India and the Philippines Strengthening Ties Due to Shared Concern About China

The military attaché is expected to take charge in about three to four months after the final clearance from the Defence Minister’s office. A defence or military attaché is part of the diplomatic establishment in the host country and is tasked with tracking military developments in the region. According to a source, the move is in sync with India’s geostrategic and geo-economic efforts to shape a narrative in the Indo-Pacific. China claims most of the South China Sea and uses what it calls the ‘nine-dash line’ to assert its control over the fish-rich Scarborough Shoal, as well as the Second Thomas Shoal, which has become another point of friction between Manila and Beijing.

The former has accused Beijing of repeated military provocations in the South China Sea over the last few months. On April 13, the Chinese coast guard blocked a Philippine maritime research vessel and its escort just 35 nautical miles from the coast of the island nation. They are also accused of firing water cannons. China has also been stopping the Philippines’ resupply to the Second Thomas Shoal.

In the last two resupply missions, Philippine boats were damaged and a few crew members were injured. The source said the delivery was just the beginning of increased defence and military cooperation between the two nations. His Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, added that the two countries were exploring ways to maintain a free and peaceful Indo-Pacific. India’s support for Manila in the face of threats from China may not be new, but the actions now are far more explicit.

In 2015, when the Philippines was engaged in the arbitration process with China in The Hague, the then External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, had backed Manila as the South China Sea was referred to as the “West Philippine Sea” in a joint statement. The tensions have virtually led to the stalling of the boundary talks involving special representatives from the two countries. China, thus, is a clear ‘common cause’ as India and the Philippines step up their military engagement. With a change in leadership from the China-leaning Rodrigo Duterte to Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who believes in forging closer ties with the US, the timing is also just right for India to act.

Both policies were a diplomatic effort to develop political, economic, and security cooperation with Southeast Asian countries. Despite that, the engagement with the Philippines has been rather underwhelming. But things seem to be improving now. At the ASEAN level, the defence mechanism includes a Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus, which India participates in.

The ADMM is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in the grouping. In November last year, India’s Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, attended the 10th ADMM-Plus meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia. He expressed India’s “commitment to freedom of navigation, overflight, and unimpeded lawful commerce in the international waters in accordance with international laws, including United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982”.