Envoy assures US supports Phl on Spratly dispute

MANILA, Philippines - The United States today assured that it will give full support to the Philippines as tension escalates in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

"I assure you and all subjects, we the United States, are with the Philippines. The Philippines and the United States are strategic treaty allies. We are partners. We will continue to consult and work with each other on all issues including the South China Sea and Spratlys Islands,” US Ambassador to Manila Harry Thomas said in his speech in today's launching of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Program.

President Benigno Aquino III led the launching of the program in Makati City.

Thomas's assurance came following Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.'s announcement that the Philippines may invoke its Mutual Defense Treaty with the US to reduce tension with China over the dispute in Spratly Islands.

“The relevant portion of that treaty is that the US has been our ally and they will come, and we expect na talagang kasama natin sila (they are with us) in any problem that will require their help,” Ochoa said.

“It’s a diplomatic problem, it’s a political and diplomatic issue, so we will solve it along those lines,” he said. “We don’t want to encourage anything that will exacerbate the issues there.”

Meanwhile, Ochoa called for caution in handling the conflict, emphasizing that the issues involve international law and are being addressed diplomatically.

The Philippines has protested several incidents involving China in the disputed territory, including the harassment of a Philippine-owned vessel by two Chinese Navy gunboats in the vicinity of Recto (Reed) Bank, 250 kilometers west of Palawan last March.

US senator urges Washington to act

A US senator, meanwhile, urged Washington to condemn China's alleged use of force and push for multilateral negotiations to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Amid tensions between China and the Philippines, Vietnam fired live artillery rounds Monday off its central coast in naval drills staged after alleging that Chinese boats disrupted oil and gas exploration.

The United States irked China last year by asserting that Washington had a national security interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea, resource-rich waters where China has competing claims with several nations and territories and rejects outside interference. It maintains that the disputes should be handled bilaterally.

Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat who chairs the Senate subcommittee overseeing American policy toward east Asia, said Vietnam and other countries were watching whether "we are going to back up those words with substantive action."

"That does not mean military confrontation, per se, but we have to make a clear signal," he told a Washington seminar organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Webb and Sen. James Inhofe, ranking Republican on the subcommittee, introduced a Senate resolution condemning China's actions. It supports continued operations by US forces to defend freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and urges the United States to facilitate a multilateral process to settle the territorial disputes.

The US diplomatic intervention last year was welcomed by countries in the region, most notably Vietnam, which has a historic rivalry with China, against which it fought a bloody border war in 1979.

The latest spat between the communist-led countries has prompted rare protests in Vietnam, which says Chinese boats cut a cable attached to a vessel conducting a seismic survey off its coast May 26 and hindered operations of another vessel June 9. For its part, China accuses Vietnam of illegally entering its waters and putting fishermen's lives at risk. It has not commented on Vietnam's naval drills.

Webb described China's actions as a clear interference in "proper activities by Vietnam."

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Friday that the recent incidents in the South China Sea had raised concerns about maritime security. He urged a collaborative diplomatic process to resolve the territorial disputes, saying that shows of force only served to raise tensions further. (With AP)