Earlier in July, a Hague arbitration court ruled that “China had no historic title” over the disputed territory in the South China, further stating that the Eastern giant has “breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights with various actions there”, the article wrote.
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“The Philippines should look for ways to cooperate with our neighbors to preserve marine ecosystems in the South China Sea and to ensure the sustainability of fishing resources for everyone”, he said in the same forum.
His visit to Hong Kong comes after a July 12 ruling by an global court based in The Hague in favor of the Philippines in its petition against China’s “nine-dash line” claim on a large part of the sea – which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
The 300-metre-long Greek bulk carrier Anangel Courage crashed into a Chinese fishing boat just after Thursday August 11 2016, causing it to sink it in the disputed East China Sea, Japan Times reports.
Ramos said they also “talked about fishing”, referring to China driving away Filipino fishermen from a shoal it occupied in 2012 after a stand-off with Philippine authorities.
The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing partial claims and are perturbed by China’s aggressive moves to assert its sovereignty such as by reclaiming islands and building airstrips.
Japan has no claim in the South China Sea but it is in dispute with China over small islands in the East China Sea.
China, however, maintained that it will not acknowledge the ruling.
“In fact, Japan provides 35 percent of all of ODA to the Philippines”, he said.
The former president met with National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee Chair and former ambassador to the Philippines Fu Ying, and Wu Shicun, President of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
“Maritime order based on the rule of law would be responsible for maritime security and prosperity”, he was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying.
Ramos said among the issues that had been discussed in his informal dialogue with the two Chinese nationals were the enhanced peace and cooperation between the Philippines and China.
“Satellites like the Gaofen-3 will be very useful in safeguarding the country’s maritime rights and interests”, he added, according to the newspaper.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
Beijing immediately rejected the ruling, and blamed Japan for stirring up trouble in the region by encouraging other regional actors to put pressure on China to accept the ruling.
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