PHL seeks ASEAN 'solidarity' on dispute over Spratlys

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has launched a diplomatic offensive in its ongoing spat with China over the West Philippine Sea. DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario has met envoys of the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and urged them to form a united stand on the territorial dispute. In a statement issued Friday, del Rosario said the regional bloc should be able to “share issues with one another and share political solutions" on the Spratly Islands conflict. Del Rosario also said he is urging solidarity on what will become “a recurring and an exacerbating problem." Four ASEAN members — Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines — are claiming some parts of the disputed islands. Two ASEAN neighbors, China and Taiwan, also claim the islands. Del Rosario, in a meeting with some envoys of ASEAN member-states, pointed out that Philippine sovereignty over the Recto (Reed) Bank is backed by international law. “Recto Bank is within the Philippine continental shelf and some 80 nautical miles from Palawan. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a feature within 200 nautical miles of a country is part of that given country’s exclusive economic zone. This means that Recto Bank is ours," he said. Quoting President Benigno Aquino III, Del Rosario emphasized that “what is ours is ours, and with what is disputed, we can work together towards joint cooperation." The DFA chief also said that transforming the area into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship, and Cooperation is the key to addressing the claims of the country-claimants and advancing a peaceful settlement of territorial disputes. — Jesse Edep/ELR/VS, GMA News