The Hague, The Netherlands: In a historic move, Liberal International (LI), a global federation of liberal and progressive democratic political parties, adopted a resolution supporting the Philippines’ rights over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and calling China’s actions in the area as “threats to global peace, security and free trade.”
The resolution was unanimously adopted during LI’s 209th Executive Committee Meeting on 23 November 2025, which was attended by more than 160 delegates from around 60 countries across the globe. The Liberal Party of the Philippines (LP), an LI full member party proposed the resolution, which was overwhelmingly supported by its sister-parties in the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) which attended the meeting.
Apart from recognizing the 2016 Philippine legal victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the resolution also acknowledges that China has undertaken “unprovoked, dangerous, and hostile naval and aerial operations throughout the WPS.” These operations, the resolution states, “have affected the livelihood of Filipino fishermen and compromised the welfare of affected coastal communities.”
“We were so pleased to receive strong support from fellow liberals and democrats to the LP-sponsored resolution on WPS”, said CALD Chairperson Mardi Seng, who, in his plenary address to the LI Executive Committee, also rallied support for the resolution. “At a time when the Philippines is facing intensifying aggression from its giant neighbor, this demonstration of international solidarity with the Philippines shows that it would not be alone in its fight to uphold national sovereignty and international law.”
Liberal International also urges international support to the Philippines should it decides to pursue a comparable resolution in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). ML Party-list Representative Leila de Lima filed House Resolution No. 192 urging the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to table a resolution to the UNGA calling China to respect the PCA ruling and cease its repeated and aggressive acts against the Philippines in the WPS, but the House Resolution has not moved beyond the committee level.
“The unanimous support of LI members to LP’s resolution on the WPS demonstrates that the democratic world is behind us in our fight against an increasingly aggressive and hostile China”, said Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada, president of LP. “We call on the Philippine government to make full use of this support to lobby the international community, including the United Nations, to recognize the Philippines’ claims on the WPS and to hold China to account for its actions.”
The full text of the resolution can be accessed through this link.
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