PH recognizes Singapore ‘neutrality’ on territorial dispute with China

Prime-Minister-Lee-Hsien-Loong of Singapore AP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Amid Singapore’s somewhat stinging clarification on its impartial stand on territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), the Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said that it recognized the city state’s neutrality on the issue and that it shared the Philippines’ push for a peaceful resolution of the protracted regional row.

DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez also said that Singapore is behind the Philippines’ push for a regional code of conduct to govern the contested waters even as it favors no particular claimant country in the dispute.

Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday issued a statement saying it stands pat on its neutral position on the West Philippine Sea dispute.

The clarification followed Philippine media reports that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had expressed support to Manila’s claims in the thorny debate during his meeting with President Aquino on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vladivostok over the weekend.

“It is correct to say that Singapore is not taking sides in the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.  Singapore supports the same principled position of the Philippines in pursuing a resolution of disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law,” said Hernandez in a statement on Tuesday.

He added that Singapore joins the Philippines and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in pushing for the immediate implementation of the Asean-China Code of Conduct of Parties currently in the works to govern the West Philippine Sea.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have conflicting claims on territories in the South China Sea. China has been pushing of a bilateral approach to resolve the dispute, but claimants including the Philippines and Vietnam have been asserting the need for a multilateral settlement of the issue.

“[Singapore] … encourages the exercise of restraint and is against the use of force. Finally, it also shares with us the desire to have an early conclusion of the Asean-China code of conduct of parties in the (West Philippine Sea),” said Hernandez.

On Monday, Singapore’s Foreign Ministry clarified that it remained impartial on the dispute, noting that two major Philippine broadsheets had based its reports on fiction.

“We have seen the reports in question. You all know how free the Filipino media is; they can be very free with the facts. There has been no change to Singapore’s position,” said the foreign ministry.

“When PM Lee met President Aquino on Sept. 8, 2012, he reiterated Singapore’s consistent position namely that we do not take sides on the merits or otherwise of the various specific disputes in the South China Sea,” Singapore’s statement read.

The Ministry further clarified that during the Philippines-Singapore bilateral meeting, Lee had “called on all claimants to exercise restraint and for disputes to be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law.”

“We had made this clear after the Sept. 8 meeting. Unlike the Filipino media reports you refer to, we deal with facts, not fiction,” the foreign ministry said.