MANILA: The US ambassador to the Philippines on Saturday assailed the “coercion” by a Chinese coast guard vessel that fired water cannons to drive away Filipino fishermen from the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in late January.
“That coercion and use of force is not at all a permissible route,” GMA News quoted Ambassador Philip Goldberg as saying when asked to comment by media men on the Chinese “water treatment” on Jan.27 which was strongly protested by the Philippine government.
Goldberg also reiterated Washington’s support for the Philippine move for a peaceful resolution of the dispute by bringing the issue to a UN commission for arbitration.
“We believe strongly,” Goldberg stressed, “in the legal process to help determine and resolve disputes.”
At the same time, he pointed out that while the US was not directly involved in the dispute, it was “an interested party because our interest is freedom of navigation in the air and sea.”
On Feb.25, the Philippines lodged a strong protest with the Chinese embassy in Manila against China’s harassment of the Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal, the object of a territorial dispute between the two countries in the South China Sea.
Beijing, however, rejected the protest as it insisted that it owned the shoal despite the Philippine claim that it is part of its 200-mile exclusive economic zone as contained in the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Aside from Scarborough, the Philippines and three of its partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) — Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei — are embroiled in a dispute with China in whole or in part of the Spratly island group in the South China Sea.
Experts have confirmed the Spratlys to be rich not only in fisheries but also in mineral resources especially petroleum and natural gas.
The Philippines has asked its three Asean partners to join it in seeking a peaceful resolution of the dispute and help reduce regional tension by bringing the issue to the UN commission for arbitration.
The first to respond was Malaysia, which announced its support for the Philippine stand during the two-day state visit of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino to Kuala Lumpur, which ended on Friday.
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