Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday congratulated President-elect Rodrigo Duterte for his victory as he urged the incoming president to push for multilateral talks in settling the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Katsuyuki Kawai, special advisor to Abe, went to Davao to extend the Japanese prime minister’s congratulations to Duterte and conveyed Japan’s “constant support” to Manila’s move to bring its disputes with China before an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
“I personally talked with your president-elect regarding the South China Sea issue. I personally think that a multilateral dialogue will be very important and very beneficial for all the countries which are engaged to that issue,” Kawai told reporters in a press conference at the Japanese Embassy.
Duterte had earlier said that bilateral talks would be the likely diplomatic track to be followed in the effort to untangle the territorial conflict with China in the disputed waters.
However, incoming Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said the statement should not be taken as policy statement, because he is not yet president.
The Philippines and China are contesting sovereignty over a small group of rock formations known as Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea, about 124 nautical miles off the main island of Luzon.
A variety of conflicting claims over islands and other formations in the South China Sea have set China against the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Some of those disputes have drawn the United States to press China over the sovereignty claims in the resource-rich maritime area.
Tension has risen in the past several years over worries China is becoming more assertive in its claims to the seas, believed to be rich in oil and gas and straddling shipping lanes between East Asia and Europe and the Middle East.
Duterte said he would wait for the final decision of the court on Manila’s case, but at the same time pursue bilateral talks with China if current efforts prove futile.
Kawai said Japan respects the rule of law and the pursuit of peaceful resolution of the conflicts through arbitration—a position long held by the Philippines.
He also briefed Duterte on the G7 leaders’ declaration in Japan where they reaffirmed the importance of resolving dispute by peaceful means, including arbitration.
Kawai said he and Duterte “reached consensus” on three points: Reaction to the ruling of the arbitral tribunal is very important; freedom of navigation must be maintained; and Japan and Philippines should promote cooperation in security area.
Kawai, meanwhile, said there was no standing invitation from Abe for Duterte to go on a state visit to Japan, but said he believes both leaders “will be able to build good chemistry with each other” if they meet in the future.
“Mr. Duterte is very frank and sincere and also a very decisive new leader as well as our prime minister. So if they meet each other in the future, they will be very good friends so I hope that day is coming soon,” Kawai said.
In Washington, US President Barack Obama asked Congress to ratify contentious UN maritime rules Thursday, hoping to strengthen his hand in a dangerous stand-off with Beijing over the disputed South China Sea.
Addressing the US Air Force Academy in Colorado, Obama said that Congress should approve UN rules designed to peacefully resolve maritime disputes.
Obama’s presidency has seen escalating diplomatic and military tensions over Beijing’s claim to territory throughout the South China Sea.
It is also pivotal to China’s effort to transform the focus of its navy from coastal defense to a “blue water navy” capable of projecting power across the region.
Chinese military deployments in the South China Sea have spooked neighbors who also claim islands and atolls, and set off a chain of tit-for-tat countermeasures by Washington.
Obama has ordered US navy vessels to sail across the region to affirm freedom of navigation.
The White House believes that Congress’s failure to ratify the UN agreement has undercut the US case that disputes must be solved peacefully.
“If we are truly concerned about China’s actions in the South China Sea for example, the Senate should help strengthen our case by approving the law of the sea convention,” Obama said.
Obama’s call comes at a particularly sensitive time, ahead of a landmark international panel ruling on a dispute between the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands.
Beijing has angrily rejected the panel’s jurisdiction and vowed to ignore its ruling. With AFP