Vatican calls for peaceful resolution of conflicts, including South China Sea disputes
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A Philippine sailor suffered serious injury after what its military described as “intentional-high speed ramming“ by the Chinese coast guard on June 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MANILA - The Vatican called on July 2 for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, including tensions between the Philippines and China as the two nations work to manage their dispute in the South China Sea.
In the first visit to the Philippines by a Vatican foreign minister in 75 years of relations between the Holy See and the Catholic-majority country, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said every effort must be made to resolve any differences peacefully.
“We encourage parties in conflict to abide by international law,” he told reporters during a joint briefing with the Philippines’ Foreign Minister.
Archbishop Gallagher’s visit comes amid talks between Manila and Beijing on managing their tensions in the South China Sea, which Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said he hoped would result in confidence-building measures to manage tensions.
Manila is hosting the latest round of talks between the two countries under their bilateral consultation mechanism, a format to specifically address South China Sea disputes.
Beijing and Manila have accused each other of raising tensions in disputed shoals and reefs in the South China Sea, including an incident on June 17 that seriously injured a Philippine navy sailor.
Philippine Rear-Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, navy spokesman on South China Sea matters, told a briefing that the Chinese Coast Guard’s actions against Philippine vessels carrying out a routine resupply mission in Second Thomas Shoal were the “most aggressive” in recent history.
He described the Chinese Coast Guard manoeuvres as “deliberate, planned and escalatory”.
A Philippine sailor suffered serious injury
China has disputed the account by the Philippines, saying the actions by its coast guard were lawful and beyond reproach.
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Rear-Adm Trinidad’s remarks.
“It was the most aggressive action ever conducted by agents of aggression of Chinese communist part in South China Sea,” Rear-Adm Trinidad said, referring to the June 17 incident
The Philippines has sent missions to resupply soldiers living aboard a rusty, ageing warship deliberately grounded by Manila in 1999 at the atoll to reinforce its sovereignty claims.
The China Coast Guard said the Philippines on July 1 had dispatched three vessels to resupply its coast guard vessel, “illegally” stranded on a reef in the South China Sea that Beijing claimed as part of its territory.
In a statement on July 2, the Chinese Coast Guard said the vessels’ presence at the reef had “violated” China’s territory sovereignty and “undermined” peace and stability in the South China Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including portions claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis
Manila has sought for wider international support on its maritime claims, seeking closer ties with countries to advocate for a rules-based order that recognises international law. REUTERS
