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.