Ahead of her first visit to the Philippines, Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon had sent an email to the Philippine News Agency – the official news agency of the Philippine government, to express: (i) Slovenia’s solidarity with the Philippines in the face of challenges to security and international law in the South China Sea (East Sea in Viet Nam); (ii) Slovenia’s commitment to international law, the universality and unity of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and (iii) Slovenia’s support for all international arbitration awards, including the 2016 Arbitration Award in the case between the Philippines and China, and Slovenia’s calling on all parties to comply with the “final” and “legally binding” award[1]. This is the first time Slovenia has officially voiced its support for the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal Award. Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon also reiterated the support during direct meeting with her Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo on March 11[2].

On March 12, the Philippines issued a statement appreciating Slovenia’s support for the Award and criticizing China’s “illegal, coercive and aggressive” actions in the South China Sea[3].


Some implications can be drawn from these developments:

First, the reason Slovenia voiced its support for all international Tribunal Awards, including the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal Award, may stem from the arbitration between Slovenia-Croatia on territorial and maritime dispute. In 2009, the two countries signed an Arbitration  agreement to submit their territorial dispute to the International Court of Arbitration. However, in 2015, Croatia terminated the Arbitration Agreement, accusing Slovenia of breaching the Agreement, and contested the validity and binding effect of the final Award  rendered later in 2017. In both cases, one of the two parties did not recognize and comply with the final ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal.

Second, Slovenia's public support for the Award has contributed to international voice  for the Award, indicating increasing awareness, especially in European countries, of the importance of the South China Sea to the rule of law. According to international observations[4], up to now, 28 countries fully support the Award and have called on other parties to comply, 17 countries “positively acknowledge” the Award and only 8 countries publicly oppose it (including China). Also, in the past 3 years, 18 countries changed their stance from positive acknowledging to fully supporting the Award while in the 2016-2022 period, only 2 countries (the UK and Germany) had shifted in this way.

Third, Slovenia has recently shown increasing interest in the Indo – Pacific region, in harmony with the trend of many other European countries also stepping up their defense-politic presence and promoting relations with regional partners, especially the Philippines. Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon is the first-ever Slovenian foreign minister to visit the Philippines and has affirmed that Slovenia “is working to strengthen partnerships with ASEAN countries”[5]. During this visit, Foreign Minister Fajon also formally opened the Slovenian embassy in Manila. This is the first and only Slovenia embassy in Southeast Asia.

Fourth, Slovenia voicing support for the 2016 Arbitral Award ahead of its Foreign Minister’s visit to the Philippines shows the importance of the South China Sea issue in cooperation with the Philippines and ASEAN, and Slovenia’s attention to partners’ policy needs. Thus, the Slovenia - Philippines relations may usher in the preriod of cooperation in more areas.

Translated and edited by NH
Photo: Philstar
A full text of the Article could be found here.

 

References:

[1] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1245705

[2] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/03/13/2428129/slovenia-affirms-2016-arbitral-ruling-philippines-welcomes-support

[3] /189979834533977 https://x.com/POMC57/status 3429

[4]  https://amti.csis.org/arbitration-support-tracker/

[5] https://www.gov.si/en/news/2024-02-02-minister-fajon-we-would-like-to-promote-closer-cooperation-with-countries-of-the-indo-pacific-and-southeast-asia/