Beijing assures Manila of positive talks on Spratlys
Beijing assures Manila of positive talks on Spratlys
MANILA (AFP): China yesterday assured the Philippines it was willing to discuss "constructive measures" to resolve a dispute over the Spratly islands as the two sides began high-level talks here, the Philippine foreign secretary said.
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said both panels were expected to set aside the thorny issue of sovereignty over the island chain and focus instead on joint development and ways to enhance goodwill.
"They (Chinese) think the sovereignty issue will take long, so in accordance with (paramount leader) Deng Xiaoping's idea, we should shelve the issue and talk about joint cooperation," Siazon said.
The potentially oil-rich Spratlys, a chain of islets and coral reefs in the South China Sea, are also wholly or partially claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Siazon spoke to reporters after Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yingfan, the head of the Beijing panel, called on him before the talks started behind closed doors at a downtown hotel yesterday.
Wang and Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino briefly shook hands before plunging into the first of two days of negotiations.
The Chinese "reiterated that they are prepared to talk constructively on our relations. They are prepared to talk about joint projects in the Spratlys, and confidence building measures," Siazon told reporters.
Wang reiterated the position set out by Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen at the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Brunei last week that China is "prepared to negotiate sovereignty" based on international law, Siazon said.
President Fidel Ramos said in a news conference yesterday that China's adherence to international law to settle the Spratly's dispute was a "breakthrough" because Beijing had previously refused to internationalize the issue.
He said that Manila was entering the bilateral talks "with some degree of comfort" because of China's new stand.
Siazon also said that both sides were expected to discuss "in detail" Manila's charges that Beijing had encroached on Philippine-claimed territory on the Spratlys by building permanent structures on Mischief Reef, a reef claimed by the Philippines.
But he refused to comment on whether the Philippines will ask China to leave the reef, which is within Manila's claimed 320- kilometer exclusive economic zone.
A Chinese embassy spokesman on Tuesday said that the fate of 62 Chinese fishermen arrested by the Filipino navy for poaching in the Spratlys would be tackled.
Manila has rejected demands by Beijing for the unconditional release of the fishermen, although 10 among them found to be minors were released to the custody of the local Chinese chamber of commerce.
The Philippine Foreign Department said on the eve of the talks that the two-day meeting "will attempt to narrow the differences between the two countries" over the Chinese occupation last year of Mischief Reef.
Tension between the two countries escalated in February when Manila discovered the presence of manned Chinese structures on the reef, which it alleged was a naval facility. Beijing says the structures served as shelter for fishermen.
The talks will also include trade-related matters and other areas of bilateral relations, the department statement said.