The Philippines hopes to balance its interests between the US and China when tackling its territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, a presidential adviser said yesterday.
Addressing a conference in Manila before a meeting between the Philippine and Chinese foreign ministers in Beijing, the adviser also suggested that smaller claimants to stretches of the sea should work together to protect their interests.
“We should know how to balance our interests between the two superpowers,” Ronald Llamas, political adviser to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, told the gathering, saying Manila should negotiate through ASEAN. “Smaller states must work together as a bloc and avoid taking any side. ASEAN should be a fulcrum to balance the interests of the US and China. The problem can be avoided by not being partisan.”
Photo: Reuters
Rival claims to parts of the South China Sea were expected in the talks yesterday between Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto del Rosario and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎).
Yang, quoted by Xinhua news agency, said del Rosario’s visit would be helpful for the two countries to increase communication and coordination in international and regional affairs.
Last month, Del Rosario traveled to Washington, with which the Philippines has a security alliance. He secured a strong pledge of support from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who expressed concern about developments in the sea.
The South China Sea covers the world’s second-busiest sea lanes and rich fishing grounds, and -straddles rich oil and natural gas deposits. China has made the largest claim over the area, and Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines also claim territorial sovereignty.
China wants one-to-one negotiations with each of the claimants rather than dealing with them within ASEAN and rejects any suggestion of US involvement in the process.
Beijing says it has historical sovereignty over the region, which it says supersedes claims of other countries under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Manila has accused Beijing of a number of infringements of its territory this year, including placing poles near a reef that would be a breach of an informal code of conduct agreed between ASEAN and China in 2002.
Vietnam has also complained about Chinese actions in waters it claims, including the cutting of seismic cables on a ship.
In April, Manila protested to the UN over China’s “nine-dotted line” claim over the entire South China Sea that Beijing had submitted in 2009.
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