By SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA — The Philippines cannot rule out the possibility of solving the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) territorial dispute with China through a combination of bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
“We cannot close the door on anything that will work for the peaceful resolution of the disputes,” said Rep. Rudolfo Biazon of Muntinlupa City.
Biazon, chair of the House committee on defense and cochair of the House committee on foreign relations, spoke in a press briefing of visiting Japanese parliamentarians at the New World Hotel in Makati City recently.
The Philippines has rejected several times the proposal of China to solve the dispute through bilateral negotiations as it considers Beijing’s political and economic power a disadvantage over Manila.
Instead, it is seeking a multilateral approach to the dispute through the implementation of the Declaration on the Code of Conduct (COC), the conclusion of Code of Conduct in the disputed region and the filing of an arbitration case before a United Nations-backed Arbitral Tribunal.
China, on the other hand, rejected the arbitration case, including the proposal by the Philippines at the recent Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) meetings in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar last month for a Triple Action Plan (TAP), which will impose a moratorium on all activities in the disputed region while a permanent solution to the dispute is being worked out.
According to Biazon, the effectiveness of a COC will be measured if China will get itself involved in its formulation.
At the same time, the dedication for resolving the issue peacefully will also be ensured in the participation of everyone directly involved in the formulation of a new COC, he said.
The former senator cited the recent agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia on the delimitation of their overlapping exclusive economic zones in the Mindanao Sea and Celebes Sea as a “good model” for a successful peaceful resolution.
The agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia was reached on the basis of international law including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the state practice and decisions of international tribunals on maritime boundary delimitation. It was signed on May 23 in Manila after 20 years of negotiation./PN
