Philippines welcomes the US to resolve South China Sea dispute

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The commitment of US Secretary of State John Kerry was warmly welcomed by the Philippines which are eager to find peaceful resolution to the South China Sea dispute.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told the media that Kerry has promised to extend support to seek a peaceful solution to the conflicting claims in the West Philippine Sea (WPS or South China Sea). The two discussed the matter during a meeting on April 2, in Washington.

“I stressed that we are committed to seeing this arbitration through. There should be no confusion or any doubts about our resolve,” Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

“We are deeply concerned about some of these tensions and would like to see it worked out through a process of arbitration,” Del Rosario quoted Kerry.

Kerry told Del Rosario that the US is concerned over the increasing tensions in the West Philippines Sea. He was referring to the rift between China’s People Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) and the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard in Mischief Reef.

“I also updated Secretary Kerry on our arbitration initiative. I emphasised its importance to the future stability of our region in particular and to the future efficacy of international law in general,” Del Rosario said.

“I also welcomed Secretary Kerry’s commitment to work with Brunei, the current ASEAN chair, on the issue of the West Philippine Sea. Both the United States and Brunei know that the Philippines is committed to the arbitration case it has filed,” he added.