Jul 12, 2012

Philippines - US, China Keen On Dialogue

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Beijing Softens Position, Agrees To ‘Enhance’ Talks

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — China said Thursday it is ready to “enhance” its dialogue with the US, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Chinese counterpart met on the sidelines of an Asian security meeting.

“China and US relations have continued to make progress this year,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, adding the sides agreed to “enhance our dialogue... to continue to expand our common ground.”

His comments come as China comes under scrutiny for its handling of a series of territorial disputes with its neighbors, which include several key US allies.

Clinton welcomed the meeting, saying a slew of joint initiatives including disaster relief, forestry policy, and disease control, were “an important signal that the US and China not only can, but will work together in Asia.”

The positive diplomatic tone followed the Secretary of State’s warning on Thursday morning to countries around the South China Sea to settle their territorial disputes “without coercion.”

The Philippines and Vietnam accuse China of acting aggressively over its competing claims to several islands in the resource-rich sea, while Tokyo and Beijing on Wednesday exchanged barbs over a separate sovereignty quarrel in the East China Sea.

Analysts have said Clinton has been keen to avoid souring ties with China during her visit to Cambodia, amid a fraught background of rows between Beijing and its neighbors.

The US has made a military and economic “pivot” towards Asia in a strategic bid to counteract China’s influence in the region, the main bright spot of the morose global economy and home to huge untapped resources.

China claims virtually the entire area and has created an entirely new city to administer it, sparking deep concern from rival claimants. The sea hosts about a third of the world’s cargo traffic, has rich fishing grounds and is believed to store vast oil and gas reserves.

“The United States has no territorial claims there and we do not take sides in disputes about territorial or maritime boundaries,” Clinton told foreign ministers gathered in Cambodia’s capital. “But we do have an interest in freedom of navigation, the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law and unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea.”

Asian countries should “work collaboratively and diplomatically to resolve disputes without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and without use of force,” Clinton added.

ASEAN’s 10 members announced earlier this week that they have drafted a set of rules governing maritime rights and navigation, and procedures for when governments disagree. But China is not a member of the group and hasn’t agreed to anything.

The ASEAN countries are presenting their proposal to China at this week’s conference in Cambodia’s capital.

Various longstanding disputes among China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei involve the area’s busy sea lanes, and many observers fear the complicated web of disputes could spark a violent conflict.

The standoff between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines began in April when the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its exclusive economic zone, including the shoal. During the tensions, both sides sent government ships to the area though both have since withdrawn vessels.

In Manila, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said Philippine authorities may resort to “power politics” to resolve the conflict with China over ownership of the Scarborough Shoal and parts of the Spratly Islands.

“China has refused to bring our disputes to the international tribunals available…what is left to us, is power politics. That is all we’ve got. We cannot engage into a massive arms build up against China. We just don’t have the money for it. We have to use power politics. We have to naturally turn to our allies,” Santiago said.

An expert on international law, Santiago, who is set to assume her post as judge in the International Criminal Court (ICC), said the Philippines can its allies, the US, which has an existing visiting forces agreement (VFA) with the government, and Australia which has a pending VFA with the country.

“We can also turn to South Korea, Singapore and then fellow members in ASEAN with interest in South China Sea such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia,” Santiago said.

The senator said it is more appropriate for the Philippines to bring its case to the International Court of Justice which settles questions and disputes on territorial boundaries and sovereignty. China rejects what it considers interference by an international tribunal.

Santiago said the Philippines has a “conflicted relationship with the US” and it is “a grave mistake” for Filipinos to think that America will immediately come to aid the Philippines even with an existing 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty when its dispute with China turn for the worse.

The Americans “are subconsciously invoking the 1951 Philippine-US MDT. But if we read this MDT very carefully you would notice that number one: America will come to our defense only if in the case of an armed attack,” she said.

Citing other complications, Santiago said part of the provisions of the treaty says that the US will come to “our defense in accordance to its constitutional processes.”

“That means that the US Congress will make a decision first on how to defend the Philippines. Maybe they’d say, well, send them all our used, junk equipment we don’t use anymore. That would be in accordance of their constitutional processes. That’s why the Phil-US MDT is irrelevant with our present row with China,” she said.

Santiago said she is willing to “rethink” her position on the Philippine-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) which she and seven other senators have opposed if “countries would commit in writing that when the Philippines is under attack, not necessarily armed, but victimized by threat or use of force, they will come to the defense of the Philippines.”

Agence France-Presse
[Additional reports from AP and Hannah L. Torregoza]


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