China insists on bilateral talks on Spratlys

MANILA, Philippines - China is firm on directly negotiating with each claimant country in resolving disputes over potentially oil-rich islands in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea, according to China’s foreign ministry.

“We believe that the most effective way to resolve the dispute is direct negotiation with countries concerned, about which the Philippines and other countries have made explicit pledges in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei recently said. “We hope relevant parties do more that is conducive to regional peace and stability.”

Hong said China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands and the surrounding waters, based on historical and jurisprudential evidence.

“Guided by the national strategy of peaceful development and the policy of good neighborliness and bearing in mind the overall interests of regional peace and stability, China is committed to a peaceful resolution of the South China Sea dispute through bilateral negotiation and friendly consultation with relevant countries on the basis of historical facts and international law,” Hong said.

“The South China Sea issue is, in essence, a dispute between China and other neighboring countries of the South China Sea on islands sovereignty and maritime demarcation.”

The Philippines earlier asked fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to declare the disputed areas as a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZoPFF/C).

The ASEAN foreign ministers, in a meeting in Bali in July 2011, tasked senior officials – with the assistance of maritime legal experts – to seriously study the Philippine proposal.

In a meeting last week, ASEAN maritime legal experts affirmed the regional bloc’s commitment to a peaceful and rules-based approach to resolving the disputes in the West Philippine Sea. It was also agreed during the meeting that the ZoPFF/C may be factored in the implementation of the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

“For the DOC to be effective, an actionable framework for joint cooperation in the West Philippine Sea, such as ZoPFF/C, is considered as an imperative,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

“ZoPFF/C clearly defines the next steps to be taken by ASEAN and other countries concerned to finally shed light and move forward on the West Philippine Sea issue,” he said.

‘Harmonious neighborhood’

Although accused of bullying its smaller neighbors, China is “striving to build a harmonious neighborhood of common prosperity” in the region, its top diplomat in the Philippines said.

“Indeed, our countries are natural friends. Our peoples and cultures are intertwined by blood and history. The success of President Aquino’s visit to China opened up broader vista for a China-Philippines relationship of strategic cooperation,” Ambassador Liu Jianchao said in a speech at the National Day Reception in celebration of the 62nd founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel on Monday.

“With what we have achieved, we shall continue to make stronger the foundation of our friendship, build long-standing partnership on various areas of mutual concern, rise above and beyond the narrow confines of national interests and create a regional environment of peace and stability,” Liu said.

The Philippines and China signed a five-year trade and development cooperation during Aquino’s visit recently. The two countries agreed to raise the total two-way trade to $60 billion by 2016. China had also assured Aquino of its support for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program of his administration.

“As an English proverb goes, ‘All is well with him who has a great neighborhood.’ China does cherish it as a wealth to have the Philippines as one of its wonderful neighbors. By fostering friendship between our two countries and two peoples, centuries of peace and prosperity would follow,” Liu said.

“The painstaking struggles have made it all the more well-known to each and every Chinese that peace and development are what really count for a country to exist and prosper,” he said.

In the past 32 years, he said China’s gross domestic product has grown at an average of 9.9 percent while total volume of imports topped $6.8 trillion during the past decade. China has created more than 14 million jobs for other countries and regions in the world, he added.

“When the world economy encountered recession and quite a number of developed countries faced economic problems, China, with other emerging economies, managed to maintain economic stability, generated economic growth and contributed to the global financial security and economic recovery,” he said.

According to World Bank statistics, China contributed over 50 percent and 25 percent of global growth in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

From January to July this year, China-ASEAN trade volume registered a growth of 25.5 percent.