Poland’s firm backing of the Philippines’ territorial claims in the South China Sea signals Warsaw’s concerns about global security that analysts say could heighten tensions with China and Russia.
Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed Warsaw’s position in his meetings with Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jnr and Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo during his visit to Manila last week.
Sikorski told reporters at a press briefing on September 4 that Poland supported an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific that was “free from any form of coercion”.
“Keeping the South China Sea waterways is vital not only to European supply chains but also to many other economies dependent on energy imports,” Sikorski said.
Freedom of navigation, according to the Polish official, is a fundamental principle enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities.
“Any attempt to undermine this principle should be met by adequate response by the international community,” he said.
Under Unclos, Manila’s territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles (22.2km) from its baseline. Its exclusive economic zone stretches up to 200 nautical miles, within which it has sovereign rights to explore, exploit and manage natural resources.
Manalo said he and Sikorski explored several possibilities for expanding bilateral cooperation, such as exchanges between the Philippine and Polish coastguards and information sharing.
“There are several areas where the Philippines and Poland can cooperate in terms of maritime cooperation but also important is our commitment to upholding a rules-based order and the importance of international law,” Manalo said.
Beijing has been accused of using aggressive “grey-zone” tactics to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea – such as firing water cannons and high-intensity lasers at Philippine vessels – in a bid to gain control of the disputed waterway without provoking open warfare.
Mainland China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, dismissing China’s broad claims over the maritime area as having no legal basis. Beijing has consistently rejected and criticised the ruling.
Matteo Piasentini, a security analyst from the China and Indo-Pacific desk at Geopolitica, an Italian think tank, told This Week in Asia that Poland was experiencing the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and their concern was the outbreak of flashpoints in other regions.
“By visiting the Philippines, it is possible that Polish officials tuned the narrative to signal alignment with the Philippines’ struggles, as fellow smaller powers confronted by big threatening neighbours,” Piasentini said.
“European states are not blind to what is happening in the Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
Ray Powell, a maritime security analyst at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, said that Poland, like Manila, relied on friends and allies to help guarantee its security.
