US wants China to resolve sea dispute through peaceful dialogue

MANILA, Philippines - The US State Department wants the Philippines’ dispute with China over the latter’s intrusion into Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal resolved “through dialogue and consensual means.”

Victoria Nuland, US State Department spokesperson, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it clear in her meetings with her Chinese counterparts that issues involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be tackled with restraint and resolved peacefully.

“In general, in all of the most recent meetings that Secretary Clinton has had with Chinese counterparts, whether they were here, whether they were in China, whether they were in multilateral fora, she has reiterated our interest in deepening and broadening mechanisms within ASEAN, within regional fora, and bilaterally for solving these things consensually, not by force, calling for restraint by all sides. That’s where we are on this particular one and where I’m sure we’ll be in Beijing next week,” she said.

A transcript of Monday’s daily briefing showed that Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be in Beijing on May 3-4 for the fourth round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.  

Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will also be meeting on April 30 in Washington with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

The April 30 meeting is a follow up to the January meeting between Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy and their Filipino counterparts, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio and Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino.

The January dialogue, according to the State Department, reinforced “the significance of our Mutual Defense Treaty as the basis for the alliance and the treaty’s continued relevance to the peace, security, and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific. We are committed to further enhance cooperation, including in security, defense, commerce, law enforcement, human rights, and disaster relief. We agreed to deepen and broaden our maritime security cooperation.”

During the dialogue, the US and the Philippines also reaffirmed their commitment to fulfill the objective of the Manila Declaration through an invigorated and expanded alliance.

“We emphasized the importance of deepening bilateral trade and investment ties to increase prosperity for the people in both countries. We reviewed our ongoing collaboration in the Partnership for Growth and the Millennium Challenge Corporation,” the two parties declared.

“We recognized the efforts being taken by the Philippine government in resolving human rights cases and discussed positive developments in the prosecution of abuses. We emphasized a mutual commitment to these efforts,” the US representatives said.