MANILA-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he would like to send former President Fidel Ramos to China to initiate diplomatic talks after Manila won a legal victory in an worldwide tribunal over Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said despite it being a current issue relevant to numerous participants, the South China Sea dispute was not included on the main agenda of the ASEM summit.
The image also depicts the South China Sea as China’s waters.
Even with worldwide law on the Philippine’s side, China will most likely continue exerting diplomatic and economic pressure on its southern neighbor.
“With the decision, Indonesia should be more confident to enforce its rights under worldwide law if there are Chinese vessels entering Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone”, Fadli said.
Laos is the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and will be hosting a key security meeting in capital city Vientiane later this month at which the South China Sea is expected to dominate discussions.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop urged all South China Sea claimants to resolve their disputes peacefully, saying Canberra would keep exercising its global rights to freedom of navigation and overflight, and support the right of others to do the same. The Arbitral Court, however, ruled that the nine-dash-line claim has no legal basis.
The Philippines has urged Beijing to respect an worldwide tribunal’s ruling that rejected Chinese claims to most of the South China Sea, escalating the row and raising the prospect of conflict.
“They have even brought other countries into the scheme to isolate and discredit China in the worldwide community with a view to holding back China’s peaceful development”.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. issues a statement on the recent ruling in a long-running dispute between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea.
China had refused to recognize the case, which the Philippines filed in 2013, insisting instead of bilateral talks to settle the dispute.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had formally protested against Australia’s “wrong remarks”, and that China hopes Australia does nothing to harm regional peace and stability.
Chinese military officials said Beijing could declare an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the disputed waters to protect its interests. In response, Calida said: “Certainly we will not do something illegal or unconstitutional”.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
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Ahead of the regional summit in Mongolia, both Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith discussed the verdict on Thursday.
