Spratlys security ‘top priority’ –Aquino

NEW YORK—President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday said maritime security was a “top priority” of his administration, “especially with regard to the West Philippine Sea” where the Philippines has conflicting territorial claims with Asian neighbors like China.

Good fences, as the saying goes, make for good neighbors,” the President said in a speech at a forum organized by the Asia Society.

He said maritime security was “a focal point in our security cooperation with the United States.”

Mr. Aquino said his administration was improving maritime security by investing P40 billion over the next five years in modernizing the Philippine military.

He said he had also issued an executive order for “a coordinated and coherent approach in maritime policy issues and operations.”

“Maintaining freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea and protecting our sovereign rights over the 200-mile exclusive economic zones are among our security imperatives,” he said.

The President said it was his administration’s “wish”  to “maintain good neighborly relations with China,” which clashed with Manila over Chinese incursions in waters off Palawan province early this year.

“In our competing claims in the West Philippine Sea, we have already drawn the line between what is disputed and nondisputed in terms of where we would never relinquish our sovereign rights,” he said.

China refers to the strategic body of water as the South China Sea.

The Philippines has also called for a peaceful and rules-based settlement of disputes, according to Mr. Aquino.