ASEAN Leaders Adopt Maritime Cooperation Declaration, Back Philippine-Led Maritime Center
Primary region Asia
Tags Diplomacy · Security · Trade
Regions Asia
ASEAN leaders at the 48th Summit in Cebu, Philippines adopted a comprehensive maritime cooperation declaration on May 8 that includes support for establishing an ASEAN Maritime Centre in the Philippines to coordinate regional maritime policy and promote freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The declaration reaffirmed UNCLOS as the governing legal framework and called for conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the center is not intended to confront any country but to create a central repository for maritime issues. ASEAN leaders also committed to cooperation on maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, illegal fishing, and submarine cable security. The bloc expressed confidence in becoming the world's fourth-largest economy by 2030 despite trade uncertainties, and advanced negotiations on ASEAN-Canada and ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council free trade agreements.
Strategic interpretation
The ASEAN Maritime Center represents an attempt to institutionalize regional coordination on South China Sea issues without directly confronting China — a balancing act that reflects ASEAN's consensus-based approach. Marcos's explicit comparison of the South China Sea to the Strait of Hormuz crisis signals growing concern that maritime chokepoints could become tools of geopolitical coercion. The center's effectiveness will depend on whether China engages with it or views it as a US-aligned mechanism. The parallel advancement of ASEAN-Canada and ASEAN-GCC trade talks demonstrates the bloc's strategy of diversifying economic partnerships amid US-China rivalry.