PH gets Singapore backing in sea dispute

DFA spokesman Charles Jose. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines welcomed on Wednesday Singapore’s statement emphasizing the rule of law towards resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea, reflecting the neighboring city-state’s support for the country’s call to peacefully settle the issue amid escalating tensions with China.

Assistant Secretary Charles Jose, the Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said on Wednesday that Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s comments at a forum in Washington D.C. Tuesday echoed the Philippines’ “battle cry” in pursuing a resolution to the worsening dispute.

“We welcome statements in support of the peaceful settlement of disputes and the primacy of the rule of law, which is essential for peace, security and stability,” Jose told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Wednesday.

“The call to respect the rule of law has been the battlecry of the Philippines from the beginning,” he said in a statement sent via text message.

Lee earlier said Tuesday that international law must be the basis of resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a six-way contest involving China, Taiwan and Singapore’s fellow members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, an American foreign policy think-tank based in the US capital, Lee said that claimant nations must choose the peaceful path instead of the “might is right” approach.

“I think international law must have a big weight in how disputes are resolved,” Lee said in response to a question about the dispute, as quoted in a report by the Associated Press.

Lee made such comments amid increasing tensions in the South China Sea, with reclamation work by China in territories within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the biggest claimant nation’s recent brushes with Vietnam in the Paracels.

Such incursions continue while the Philippines pursues an arbitration bid before the United Nations to halt Chinese activity within its EEZ, clarify maritime entitlements in the waters and nullify China’s sweeping nine-dash-line claim covering nearly all of South China Sea.

Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario called for a freeze on provocative activities in the disputed waters, a proposal he hopes to formally make in an upcoming Asean meeting.

Singapore has been supportive of Asean’s efforts to engage China in finalizing a legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) to instill discipline and prevent conflict among claimants pending resolution of the dispute.

The regional bloc has also been calling for strict compliance with the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties, a 2002 non-aggression pact that the Asean is hoping to strengthen through a binding code.

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