By Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Reporter
A territorial dispute in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea should be resolved only through peaceful means, top officials of the Philippine government and Chinese military said on Thursday.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Embassy in Beijing said that this consensus was reaffirmed when the
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, Gen. Ricardo David Jr., met with China’s Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on December 7 and People’s Liberation Army Gen. Chen Bingde on December 8 in Beijing.
“We must maintain peace and unhampered tranquility in the South China Sea. The Philippines is committed to resolve disputes in the South China Sea in the most peaceful way together with China and Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries,” David told both Liang and Chen.
He stressed that the Philippines is deeply committed to the principles embodied in the 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
The doctrine called specifically for “cooperation and peaceful negotiations” between members of the Asean and China in the disputed area.
Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Code of Conduct
Liang said that China “has strictly implemented the declaration of conduct, stressing that all involved parties should guarantee peace and stability in the South China Sea and to handle [disputes] appropriately.”
“They also agreed to continue discussions to strengthen cooperation between the Philippines and China through exchange of high-level visits between defense officials and the militaries of both countries,” the statement from the Foreign Affairs department said.
David is in China as guest of the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese government.
It is his first visit to China since becoming Armed Forces chief of staff, and his second foreign visit after South Korea.
The meeting between Manila and Beijing’s government officials came on the heels of recent reports that said China has constructed a lighthouse on Subi Reef in a disputed area in the South China Sea.
The reports said that Chinese troops are occupying the area being claimed by both the Philippines and Vietnam.
But officials of the Department of National Defense have downplayed the reports, saying that the lighthouse had been constructed even before the declaration of conduct was signed in 2002.
They added that the structure was probably old, built about eight years ago.
The Subi Reef is currently being occupied by Chinese forces, but is being claimed by the Philippines.
The 2002 declaration of conduct prohibits any claimant country from constructing any structure in the area.
Besides China and the Philippines, the other nations claiming the Spratlys in part or in whole are Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The chain of islands, islets, reefs and atolls is believed to be rich in oil and minerals.
But Malacañang on Thursday said that it is not keen on filing a diplomatic protest over the lighthouse issue, and has ordered the Foreign Affairs and National Defense departments to closely monitor the situation in the contested islands, which the Chinese call the Nansha islands.
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