US President Barack Obama on Friday called for clear rules to resolve maritime disputes in the South China Sea and throughout the Pacific, a region where the US is trying to increase its strategic heft.
Speaking to reporters after hosting Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in the Oval Office, Obama said it was critical to avoid escalation of conflicts over strategic waterways and shipping routes.
“We discussed not only military and economic issues, but also regional issues, for example trying to make sure that we have a strong set of international norms and rules governing maritime disputes in the region,” Obama said.
Photo: Reuters
Washington has been helping Manila, a treaty ally, strengthen its modest military capacities in the face of a confrontation with China over contested South China Sea reefs.
Aquino did not refer specifically to that conflict in his remarks to the press, but said the meeting with Obama “deepened and strengthened a very long relationship we have, especially as we face the challenges that are before both our countries.”
The White House later said the leaders “underscored the importance of the principles of ensuring freedom of navigation, respect for international law, and unimpeded lawful commerce.”
“They expressed firm support for a collaborative diplomatic process among claimants to resolve territorial disputes in a manner consistent with international law and without coercion or the use of force,” it said.
The US, colonial ruler of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 and a treaty ally since 1951, is formally neutral on South China Sea territorial disputes.
However, Washington’s encouragement of multilateral discussions pits it against China, which has insisted on bilateral talks with its weaker neighbors.
Manila is in a showdown with China over the Scarborough Shoal, a horseshoe-shaped reef near the Philippines in waters both countries claim, and has sought to upgrade its defense posture with ships, aircraft and surveillance equipment. Other countries also lay claim to the shoal, such as Taiwan, who refers to it as Huangyan Island (黃岩島).
Earlier on Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US was not taking sides in the Manila-Beijing standoff, but had a clear interest in ensuring free navigation, unimpeded commerce and stability in the South China Sea.
“We encourage continued diplomatic dialogue and further efforts to lessen tension, to disengage, and to resolve the situation peacefully,” she said of the Scarborough dispute.
Clinton said the US opposed “the use of force or coercion by any claimant to advance its claims.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” she said, while calling on ASEAN, of which the Philippines is a member, and China to reach a consensus on a code of conduct for the South China Sea.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS