The Philippines wants dialogue on disputed waters

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines assured on Saturday that it was ready for dialogue with Beijing on the disputed waters of the South China Sea. He did not change his position in the dispute and announced an investigation to make amends for the fishermen affected by it.

The statement was issued after Friday's consultations between Chinese and Filipino diplomats on the situation in the waters of the South China Sea, both of which have been in dispute for years.

The talks which took place in the framework of the bilateral consultation mechanism, which has been in operation since 2016, have been described as "friendly and sincere" by Filipino diplomatic ministry officials. According to the statement, both countries expressed confidence in the importance of dialogue to alleviate tensions and to "understanding positions and intentions" in the disputed region. The Philippines repeated However, the call for China to comply with international law.

Manila's Ministry of Diplomacy also announced that the country would demand compensation for victims of the June 2019 incident, during which a Chinese boat rammed and sunk a Filipino fishing boat, leaving it a 22-man crew of its own fate. The fishermen were rescued by a Vietnamese unit near them.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague overturned China's territorial claims against the Philippines. However, the Beijing authorities, which report historical objections to 90% of the South China Sea area, ignored its ruling.

The main points disputed between the governments in Manila and Beijing are the Isles of Spratly (Spratle) and the Scarborough shoal lying within the Filipino exclusive economic zone, extending 200 nautical miles from the coast.

A dispute over strategic and resource-rich water broke out in March when approximately 200 Chinese boats and other units were detected in the Scarborough area.

This led to the exchange of diplomatic notes and a series of statements made in traditional and social media. The Greatest Controversies sparked a vulgar tweet published on 3 May of the head of the Philippine diplomacy of Teodoro Locusina Jr., in which he called on China to leave the waters under Manila's jurisdiction.

In the past week, President Rodrigo Duterte committed his cabinet members to silence on Chinese territorial claims.

President Duterte, who has sought good relations with the Chinese authorities since taking office in 2016, stated in late April that although the Philippines have a debt to them for a number of reasons, including providing free vaccines against coronavirus, national interest cannot be the object of negotiations.

Critics, however, accuse him of being overly submissive to Beijing and contradictory statements about the South China Sea, the large area of which the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

Source: PAP