Phl presses freeze on sea row action

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will push for a moratorium on any activity that could raise tensions in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea during next month’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.

The proposed moratorium will form part of a package of solutions to the territorial row being readied by Manila, Del Rosario told reporters after a meeting with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission vice president Catherine Ashton.

Ashton, in her meeting with Del Rosario, reiterated the EU’s call on all parties to seek peaceful solutions to the territorial spat through dialogue and cooperation in accordance with international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China’s growing aggressiveness in staking its claims in the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea is stoking tension in the region. Other nations with territorial claims in the region are Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Del Rosario said other counties welcomed the Philippine initiative.

Manila, he said, is also trying to set up a meeting among claimant states.

“We’re trying to get as many parties to adopt it as possible but I think we’re working on the claimant states to consider that,” Del Rosario said. “We’ll present it in every forum because it’s constructive, it’s positive, it’s comprehensive.”

He also said President Aquino was right about not mentioning the country’s maritime spat with China in his State of the Nation Address.