US State Secretary Hillary Clinton AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday welcomed US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s move to push for Association of South East Asian Nations’ (Asean) unity on its plan for a regional code of conduct to ease tensions in the West Philippine Sea, saying that the Philippines had always advocated for Asean “centrality, leadership, and solidarity” to promote peace in the region.
“The Philippines is committed to settling any dispute to the West Philippine Sea in a peaceful, rules-based, and multilateral approach. We are focused on that and hopefully all stakeholders would abide by the letter and spirit of the declaration of conduct of parties in the South China Sea and make sure we are able to settle disputes there peacefully,” Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesperson, said.
Hernandez made the statement when asked about his reactions to Clinton’s plan to encourage Southeast Asian nations to present a united front to the Chinese in dealing with territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Clinton went to Jakarta, Indonesia to offer strong support for the plan to implement a code of conduct (COC) between Asean and China, a move aimed to ease tensions among all claimants to the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Hernandez admitted, however, that he could not tell if the code could be accomplished within the year, but that “all we have to do is call on all parties, all stakeholders to be able to conclude and finalize this code of conduct as soon as possible.
China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan claim all or parts of the sea believed to be sitting on vast oil and gas deposits.
The Philippines had been pushing for peaceful resolution of the disputes under international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). China, however, had insisted on its stand to discuss the disputes in bilateral, individual negotiations with claimant countries.
Clinton was also expected to discuss the West Philippine Sea issue with high ranking Chinese officials when she travels to Beijing Wednesday.