On November 4, the International Symposium on South China Sea Security and the launch event for the report "Toward an Extremist and Adventurist South China Sea Policy: Observations on Three Years of the Marcos Administration", hosted by the Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, were held in Haikou. Wu Shicun, Chairman of the Huayang Center and Chair of the Academic Committee of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), delivered the opening remarks.
More than 50 scholars and media representatives from think tanks, universities, and research institutions in China, the Philippines, the United States, Belgium, and other countries participated in the event through a hybrid online–offline format.
In his remarks, Wu Shicun pointed out that in the more than three years since the Marcos administration came to power, its foreign policy has deviated from the positive trajectory of China–Philippines relations established during the Duterte era and has instead tilted entirely toward the United States. This shift has driven China–Philippines relations toward confrontation and continuous deterioration.
As a major research outcome produced through the Huayang Center's ongoing monitoring of the South China Sea situation and regional diplomatic developments, the newly released Report reveals the decision-making logic and deeper drivers behind the Marcos administration's foreign policy strategy. It aims to assess the negative impact and potential risks that the Philippines' policy direction poses to peace and stability in the South China Sea. The Philippine government should prioritize regional peace and stability as well as the prosperity and well-being of its people, work with China, exercise restraint, halt unilateral actions, manage maritime differences, and advance practical maritime cooperation.
Xu Xiaodong, Executive Vice Chairman of the Huayang Center, presided over the meeting. Mu Jiahao, Assistant Research Fellow at the Huayang Center, gave a brief overview of the considerations and background behind the Report, the Marcos administration's South China Sea policy, and the logic underlying it.
The Report was written by the research team of the Huayang Center. It analyzes the evolution of the Philippines' foreign policy and its South China Sea strategy under the Marcos administration, as well as the deeper underlying logic driving these changes.
The Report argues that the Philippines' current foreign policy has departed from the long-standing approach of previous administrations, which sought to keep China–Philippines disputes in the South China Sea manageable while steadily expanding economic, trade, and people-to-people cooperation. The Marcos administration has deliberately provoked tensions over the South China Sea and relied on the United States to inflate its leverage, attempting to maximize its unlawful gains in the South China Sea. Its true underlying objective, the Report contends, is to obscure mounting livelihood and governance problems at home. At present, the Marcos administration’s radical and reckless foreign and South China Sea policies have led to severe difficulties in China-Philippines relations, as well as growing domestic political instability in the Philippines.
The Report notes that the Marcos administration's South China Sea policy has increasingly deviated from fundamental norms and principles of modern international relations and has disregarded numerous consensuses and agreements already reached. This gradual shift toward "extremization," it argues, stems from the Marcos government’s decision to place the interests of political clans above the national interest. The interests of Philippine political families, bureaucratic factions, and elite groups are intertwined, interacting with and influencing one another - each with its own agenda - in the formulation of the country's South China Sea policy.
The Report forecasts that the Philippines' current South China Sea policy trajectory will confront three major challenges. First, under growing geopolitical risks, China-Philippines bilateral economic and trade relations are at serious risk of crisis. Second, there is significant uncertainty over whether the United States will truly fulfill its "South China Sea security commitments" to the Philippines. Finally, if unexpected incidents in the South China Sea occur more frequently, they will inevitably undermine regional peace and stability, and the divergences between the Philippines and other ASEAN member states over South China Sea and military security strategies will increasingly come to the forefront.
Scholars from China and abroad offered interpretations of the Report's findings from political, diplomatic, legal, and historical perspectives, and explored the relationship between the Philippines' South China Sea policy and the evolving maritime situation. Participants broadly agreed that the Marcos administration's South China Sea approach has shifted from pragmatism toward adventurism, yet cooperation - rather than confrontation - best serves the Philippines' own interests. They emphasized that the Marcos government should recalibrate its foreign policy with national interests and the well-being of the Filipino people in mind, remain rational and restrained on the South China Sea issue, and seek to resolve disputes and manage differences through dialogue and cooperation.
During the event, Wu Shicun attended interviews from CGTN, China Media Group the Voice of the South China Sea, CCTV-4, and Sansha TV.
