Aquino stands pat on sea conflict approach

From Business World (Nov 19): Aquino stands pat on sea conflict approach

DISAGREEMENTS CONTINUE to hound Southeast Asian leaders on the approach to resolving conflicting claims in the South China Sea with Beijing, prompting President Benigno S. C. Aquino III to restate the Philippine position that disputes should be settled at the international level and not solely within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Mr. Aquino issued the statement after clarifying an impression of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, this year’s ASEAN chair and an ally of China, that the 10-member bloc has agreed to confine within ASEAN’s consensus-building approach. "If I recall correctly, as part of striving for ASEAN unity, the chair [Mr. Sen] was of the impression that we had accepted a view that we would not internationalize the maritime dispute with China," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario said in a text message yesterday. The Cambodian leader’s statement was made during his closing remarks at the ASEAN-Japan summit yesterday, signaling an apparent victory for China who has constantly insisted that disputes in the resource-rich region must be resolved bilaterally among claimants, namely the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan. But China insists it has sovereign rights to virtually all of the sea. It was at this time that Mr. Aquino raised his hand to state the Philippine position, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio B. Coloma, Jr. said in a press briefing in Cambodia aired over state-run dzRB. "There were several views expressed on ASEAN unity which we did not realize would be translated into an ASEAN consensus. For the record, this was not our understanding," Mr. Coloma said, quoting the President’s statement. "The ASEAN route is not the only route for us. As a sovereign state, it is our right to defend our national interests," Mr. Aquino added. Mr. Coloma said the President has always maintained in speeches delivered in various meetings at the ASEAN summit that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an alternative track for claimant countries. Disputes brought under the UNCLOS ambit are elevated to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. "The President’s statement speaks for itself. It is pointing out that the statement of the chairman is not consistent with his own recollection or with his own understanding of the context of what has been discussed so far and he stated it plainly and simply," Mr. Coloma said.
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Aquino-stands-pat-on-sea-conflict-approach&id=61687