PH Consulate General in Los Angeles Shares Thoughts on Realizing Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region
Clockwise: Consul Francis Maynard S. Maleon, Dr. Jeffrey Hornung, Japanese Consul General Kenko Sone, Canadian Consul General Zaib Shaikh and British Consul General Emily Cloke. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
LOS ANGELES 08 March 2024 – The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles attended a Conference on Free and Open Indo Pacific (FOIP) vision organized by the RAND Corporation, Japan House Los Angeles, and the Japanese Consulate of Los Angeles held on 1 March 2024 at the Japan House in Los Angeles. The event focused on Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) approach to the region. Consul Francis Maynard S. Maleon and Political/Economic Assistant Edwin R. De Pacina represented the Consulate General at the said Conference.
The Conference explored the perspectives of U.S. and Japanese specialist, as well as representatives of other regional countries, and with the aim of contributing to public understanding of the key issues confronting Washington and Tokyo. The Conference explored the following questions: 1) How do American and Japanese experts assess their countries' free and open Indo-Pacific strategies regarding security and economic issues? 2) How are regional countries pursuing their own strategic engagement? and 3) How might the situation evolve moving forward?
In his comments, Consul Maleon highlighted the convergence between Japan’s FOIP vision with the Philippine Info-Pacific Vision as articulated by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. during the 26th ASEAN-China Summit held in September last year, viz.: “…[M]aritime cooperation is especially significant to the Philippines as an archipelagic nation. We must emphasize that practical cooperation in the maritime domain can flourish only with an enabling environment of regional peace, security, and stability, anchored in international law…”
Consul Maleon also stressed that the ASEAN and its individual Member States are not only integral to the discussion on a FOIP, but they are also key to all conduct in the Indo-Pacific region.
The conference was aimed at a general audience with different backgrounds. It provided the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles with the opportunity to articulate the Philippine approach towards a FOIP vision. Moreover, since the Philippine Consulate was the only ASEAN participant, Consul Maleon also articulated ASEAN’s strategy towards a FOIP, notably: the principles contained in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and ASEAN centrality towards the vision. END
Consul Maleon responds to a question from the moderator during the roundtable. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
For more information, visit https://www.philippineconsulatela.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinLA/.