He was also expected to talk to the President about the territorial row between the Philippines and China, following the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling on the South China Sea disputes.
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The United States, Japan, and Australia stepped away from a meeting of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, on Monday to issue a joint statement urging China to avoid building more military outposts in the South China Sea.
“We know this was a middle ground”, Yasay said of the Asean statement that stated, albeit in general terms, the bloc’s concern for intrusive activities in the South China Sea.
Despite China’s stance, Kerry said the U.S. will try to work going forward to settle the issue through a diplomatic process, “whatever available legal institutions there are to support a process”.
Perfecto Yasay, the new secretary of foreign affairs, said on Tuesday that he “vigorously pushed” for a mention of the award in the joint statement at the close of the recent meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Laos, but failed.
The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the ruling and a call to respect global maritime law to feature in the communique, but Cambodia rejected the wording on the ruling, diplomats said, backing instead China’s call for bilateral discussions.
However, the Wall Street Journal notes that China and the Philippines have locked horns over the fundamental issue of whether bilateral talks would ignore the Hague ruling in favor of the Philippines, as China demands.
Asked about China’s efforts to undermine the ruling, Kerry said: “It’s impossible for it to be irrelevant”.
“Let us not focus on confrontation, but let us focus on solution”, Kerry said.
“We have to wait for a cooling-off period, especially inside debates in China, where people can say, ‘I’m not sure this policy has helped our worldwide position, ‘” Short said.
It is also believed to sit atop vast reserves of oil and gas.
“The parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat of use of force [.] in accordance with universally recognized principles of worldwide law, including the 1982 UNCLOS”, read one of the points in the communique. Yasay said the Philippines did not want to gloat over the win, or rock the boat with ASEAN.
Numerous countries make claims to oil and gas reserves in the area, and millions of ordinary people still earn their livelihood from fishing in the South China Sea.
This ruling by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, struck down China’s expansive claim over the disputed waters.
However he said the statement was a “victory” for ASEAN, as it referred to upholding principles of worldwide law.
Kerry, who attended a regional summit in Laos, earlier told reporters he would encourage Mr. Duterte, who assumed office on June 30, to engage in dialogue and “turn the page” with China. “And we agree with that … no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions”.
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Early this month, Duterte blamed USA intervention for the bloody conflicts in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, saying in a speech to a Muslim community that America’s intrusive policy was to blame for terrorist attacks on US soil.
