US envoy: Water cannon incident in Panatag Shoal 'not a permissible route'

From GMA News (Mar 1): US envoy: Water cannon incident in Panatag Shoal 'not a permissible route'

The United States Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg on Saturday said the water cannon incident in the Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal was not a permissible course of action in the disputed area.

"That coercion and use of force is not at all a permissible route," he said, when asked by reporters to comment on the issue.

On January 27, China's coast guard fired water cannon at Filipino fishermen for the first time to drive them away from a disputed fishing ground. On February 25, the Philippines protested the harassment.

Goldberg also reiterated US support "in [Philippine] efforts to bring certain of these matters before an international tribunal."

"We made it clear that we want to see legal, peaceful, diplomatic solutions to any issues related to the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea conflict," he said.

"We believe strongly in the legal process to help determine and resolve disputes," he added.

Goldberg also maintained that it is in the interest of the US to ensure free access to the resource-rich waters, and that conflicts are resolved peacefully even though it [the US] is not a party to the disputes.

But he said: "We are an interested party because our interest is freedom of navigation in the air and sea."

The US, along with other Western nations expressed alarm over China’s unilateral imposition of a fisheries regulation in the South China Sea, which China claims nearly in its entirety, and an air defense zone in the neighboring East China Sea, where a group of islands is jointly disputed by China and Japan.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/350711/news/nation/us-envoy-water-cannon-incident-in-panatag-shoal-not-a-permissible-route