Despite sea row, PH seeks to ‘normalize’ China ties

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the massive Chinese reclamation activity in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippines will “try to normalize” its relations with Beijing but this does not mean that it will give up on its arbitration case against China before the United Nations arbitral tribunal, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Thursday.

Del Rosario said that the government was looking for an “early award” or resolution of the case by the UN tribunal.

“I think in terms of the resulting award, win or lose we will accept the award and we expect at the very least for China to do the same,” he said at a news conference at the Diamond Hotel where he hosted a New Year get-together with the media covering the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Philippines brought a complaint against China before the UN arbitration court in 2013 to seek clarification of maritime entitlements after China claimed almost the entire South China Sea in its so-called nine-dash-line policy. The Chinese claim impinged on territories in the West Philippine Sea that lie well within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

Del Rosario said it was possible the UN tribunal would hand down a decision in early 2016. He said the government would be submitting in March its responses to new questions raised by the UN tribunal. In July, the tribunal will hold oral arguments and then resolve the issue in about six months, he said.

Even as it awaits the resolution of its case by the UN tribunal, the Philippines is “trying to see if we can try to normalize the relations with Beijing,” said Del Rosario.

“We’re trying to see if a constructive engagement can be had at this time, one that is mutual beneficial in accordance with the [2011] agreement between President Aquino and [then Chinese President] Hu Jintao” when they met in Beijing last year, he said.

“We would, however, believe that this improvement in our bilateral relations does not adversely affect our advocacies in terms of seeking clarification of our maritime claims in accordance to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea through arbitration,” he said.

Asked whether President Aquino will have a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders’ summit to be held in the Philippines in November, Del Rosario said that this might not be possible but was looking forward to another meeting between the two leaders, “because I thought the first meeting was very constructive.”

Aside from normalizing Philippines-China ties, Del Rosario said the Philippines was also “anxiously” working for the full implementation of the 2001 Asean-China Declaration on the Code of Conduct as well as the full implement of the Code of Conduct.