MANILA, Philippines - The United States (US) on Thursday urged China and other claimants in the West Philippine Sea row to “act in a responsible manner†and to craft a code of conduct that would govern stakeholders in the area.
“We call on China and all other countries to act in a responsible manner to work with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) nations to forge a serious code of conduct and to sit down at the negotiating table and do this in a peaceful manner,†US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. said.
Thomas was asked about potential impact of the the rebalancing of US troops to the region and whether he expects China to be more aggressive owing to Washington’s increased presence.
The US envoy said the rebalancing of forces was not directed against any country.
“The rebalance or re-pivot to Asia is not about any one country, (Asia) is (an) economic engine, becoming the economic engine of the world,†Thomas said.
In 2002, ASEAN and China signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to resolve territorial disputes peacefully. However, specific and binding guidelines have yet to be approved.
ASEAN members agreed to finalize a draft of the code of conduct by July 2012 but failed to issue a communiqué for such.
Thomas added that the sea lanes in the West Philippine Sea should remain open to facilitate economic activity.
“Most of the world has trillions of dollars of trade that goes to the South China Sea and those sea lanes have to be opened to everyone,†the US envoy said.
Last year, the US bared plans to deploy majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020.
Then US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the decision to deploy majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific was made to boost the US' presence in Asia.
Panetta said the US naval assets would be realigned from a roughly 50-50 split between the Pacific and the Atlantic to about 60-40 split between those oceans.
No intrusion in Kalayaan
Meanwhile, the military on Thursday denied a report that a Chinese ship had intruded into Kalayaan Island Group in Palawan.
“Our ship from Wescom (Western Command) came from patrol last week and there was no reported incident that an intruding ship unloaded construction materials in the area,†Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said in an interview.
“There is no unusual activity in the area concerned,†he added.
Burgos said they are unaware of the source of the report, which appeared in a broadsheet Thursday.