Saturday, July 16, 2011
PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Friday insisted that the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea should be settled through a special United Nations tribunal.
"I think that is the only recourse left open to us," Aquino said, referring to the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. China has rejected the proposal to settle the issue before the UN international tribunal.
"We want to establish first precisely who is in the right in terms of the definition of the rights imbued under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, so where do you go? You don't actually go to China to ask them to define what the Philippine rights are as far as the West Philippine Sea is concerned, you have to go to the body where everybody is a signatory practically to, and that is the UN," Aquino stressed.
The United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea is an independent judicial body where issues covering the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea will be discussed.
The President said he will still press for UN arbitration when he visits China sometime this year.
Malacanang earlier related that diplomats from claimant countries continue their dialogue to resolve the tension in Spratlys peacefully.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said they are leaving the issue to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the diplomatic channels.
There is a current consensus among the members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) who support the Philippine position to advance its Spratly claim through multi-lateral discussion and diplomatic means, he added.
He also said that Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has proposed for a rules-based regime in the conduct of claimant countries in the West Philippine Sea.
Both China and the Philippines earlier agreed to work together to ensure peace and stability in the West Philippine Sea following the visit of Secretary del Rosario to China a week ago.
Both countries agreed not to let disputes affect diplomatic ties.
The Spratlys, which is a chain of islands and reefs in the West Philippine Sea, is also being claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
The islands are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas.
President Aquino earlier said he will be raising to the UN international tribunal the at least six to seven reported Chinese incursions in the Philippines claimed Spratly Island areas, particularly the Reed Bank.
The Philippine government repeatedly said that Reed Bank or Recto Bank has never been a disputed island and always been considered as part of the Philippine territory.