Senator Imee R. Marcos said Tuesday that while she welcomes the statement of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo throwing US support behind the ownership claim of some Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, over parts of the South China Sea (SCS), only countries involved in the dispute can resolve it.
‘’It is unfortunate that the US is not a member of UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),’’ Marcos, chairwoman of the Senate Economic Affairs Committee, noted.
Marcos, daughter of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was referring to a 2016 ruling of the UN Arbitration Court at the Hague that favored Philippine ownership claim over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and rejected China’s historical claim over vast areas in the SCS as having no basis.
The lawmaker from Ilocos Norte maintained that Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries that are involved in this maritime dispute with China must resolve this through every peaceful means and not through threats and intimidation especially from parties that are not party to UNCLOS.
The US has sent its naval force to sail through the SCS in an apparent show of force that sent the tension level in the region a notch higher.
‘’With China and ASEAN, we must push and work faster to conclude the long- awaited Code of Conduct on the South China Sea,’’ she said.
‘’We call on the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) to initiate immediate talks with China to resolve the Scarborough dispute,’’ she added.
Read more: Pompeo says Beijing claims in South China Sea ‘unlawful’