US banks on PH to ensure COC in SCS consistent with int’l law

FILE: Opening this year’s U.S.-#Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Manila, A/S Stilwell discussed strengthening the two countries’ economic relationship and promoting regional stability, including free and unobstructed access to the seas. #FriendsPartnersAllies (Photo: @USAsiaPacific/Twitter)

MANILA— The United States government is banking on the Philippines as a claimant state in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea to ensure that the conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the contested waters would be consistent with international law.

“As a claimant state in the South China Sea, the Philippines is well-positioned to ensure that the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) code of conduct text is fully consistent with international law, protecting the freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea for all countries, as well as the rights of claimant states to pursue security and development arrangements with partners of their choosing,” State Department Assistant Secretary David Stilwell said Tuesday in a statement on the conclusion of the US-Philippines Eight Bilateral Strategic Review in Manila.

China, Taiwan and some ASEAN member-states including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam, have respective their claims in the South China Sea.

For more than a decade, China and the ASEAN committed to working toward the early adoption of the COC but it was only during the 20th ASEAN-China Summit in the Philippines in November 2017 that development on the document began to move forward.

To date, Beijing and the 10-member states of the bloc are holding a series of negotiations to finish a mutually agreed edict.

The US, a non-claimant state to the South China Sea, on the other hand, wants an effective and substantive COC that would not prejudice the rights under international law of both claimant states and non-claimant states.