February 25, 1999
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| February 25, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia Philippines expects to discuss Spratlys at ASEM meet MANILA - The Philippines remains confident that the South China Sea territorial dispute will be discussed in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Berlin next month. ''You know, the issue has to be discussed because it relates to political and security conditions in Asia, as we will also be discussing political and security conditions also in Europe,'' Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in an interview at Malacanang Tuesday. He added that while delegates to the ASEM meet may not necessarily specify the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China, there may be other ways to refer to the issue. ''It doesn't have to be specified as Mischief Reef or something like that, but the issue has to be discussed. So I think the diplomats will find a way and find an understanding or arrangement which will allow countries wishing to refer to, let's say the situation in Kosovo, or the situation related to South China Sea, will be discussed,'' he said. Siazon reacted to reports that Germany is not inclined to back the country's move to include the South China Sea issue in the ASEM agenda. The Philippines and China are among the six claimants to the potentially oil-rich Spratly chain of islands in the South China Sea. The other four are Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam. Last year, Manila filed a diplomatic protest with Beijing following the construction of Chinese structures in Mischief Reef, a portion of the Spratlys which the Philippines considers as part of its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. President Joseph Estrada and Chinese President Jiang Zemin have agreed to exhaust peaceful means to resolve their two countries' dispute over the Spratlys during their one-on-one meeting in November last year on the fringes of the 6th Leaders Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Kuala Lumpur. The National Security Council, which convened last month for the first time under the Estrada administration, reached a consensus to explore both bilateral talks with China and other Spratlys claimants and multilateral approaches in settling the dispute. This multi-track approach includes tapping international fora such as the ASEM, APEC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in heightening global awareness about the Spratlys dispute, as well as making the pitch at informal workshops on the South China Sea issue sponsored by non-claimants. (Asia Pulse/PNA) | |||||||||
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