Manila: The Philippines yesterday hailed the growing international support for its efforts to counter China’s claims to most of the South China Sea.
The comments from a presidential spokesman came as the US Pacific Fleet released photographs of its commander in a surveillance flight over the sea, where tension is rising between Manila and Beijing.
Herminio Coloma, spokesman for President, said many nations agreed that the dispute “must go through legal process as signatories to the UNs Convention on the Law of the Sea”. “We welcome the growing support for the position of our country,” Coloma told, citing the European Union, Australia, Japan and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Coloma cited recent remarks by leading US senators praising the Philippine efforts to resolve the matter peacefully and calling on the US to continue to maintain peace in the region.
The Philippines earlier this month argued its case before a UN-backed tribunal in the Hague, challenging China’s claim over most of the resource-rich sea. China has refused to take part in the proceedings and called on the Philippines to agree to bilateral talks instead. The Philippines and other countries have also recently raised alarm at China’s reclamation of outcrops in the Sea to create islands that could house military facilities.
China claims most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its neighbours. The Philippines, as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, all have their own claims. The Philippines, which has one of the region’s weakest militaries, has been improving defence ties with its close ally the United States.
Philippines said last Thursday it would reopen a US naval base that was closed more than 20 years ago, stationing its own military hardware at Subic Bay facing South China Sea.AFP
