PH cites India’s experience in solving border dispute

Foreign Affairs secretary Alberto del Rosario. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippines is seeking partnership with India, particularly on maritime issues in the South China Sea, drawing from the neighboring country’s experience in resolving its maritime boundary with Bangladesh through arbitration with the international court.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Thursday paid a courtesy call on India’s Vice President Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari in New Delhi.

He was also in the Indian capital to attend formal bilateral meetings with the country’s senior officials.

“Secretary Del Rosario reiterated the importance accorded by the Philippines to its relations with India and stressed the Philippines’ desire to further grow its partnership with India across a broad range of areas, including developments in the South China Sea,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

According to a joint statement of the two countries, the Philippines recognized the steps taken by India to solve its maritime boundary with Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh had a long-standing maritime boundary dispute which was settled by the UN arbitral tribunal.

The tribunal awarded Bangladesh 19,467 square kilometers of the 25,602 sq-km disputed area of the Bay of Bengal.

The Philippines cited the decision of the tribunal and India’s acceptance of the ruling “as an example of peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) by the International Court,” the joint statement said.

The statement was issued after the 3rd Meeting of the India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation held on Wednesday in New Delhi.

The Philippines is locked in a maritime dispute with China, challenging its nine-dash line claim which encompasses almost the entire 3.5-million-sq-km South China Sea, through an arbitration case it initiated.

Invoking the Unclos, officials of the Philippines have maintained that no country can claim an entire sea.