U.S. Senate’s praiseworthy stand on disputed waters

In its biggest show of support yet, the United States Senate has adopted a resolution supporting the Philippines and other countries in their stand for the peaceful settlement of the territorial and maritime disputes over the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea. The measure, US Senate Resolution No. 412, is entitled “Reaffirming the strong support of the United States Government for the freedom of navigation and other internationally lawful uses of sea and airspace in the Asia-Pacific region, and for the peaceful diplomatic resolution of outstanding territorial and maritime claims and disputes.” The  Resolution states “the Republic of the Philippines properly exercised its rights to peaceful settlement mechanisms with the filing of arbitration case under Article 287 and Article VII of the Convention of the Law of the Sea in order to achieve a peaceful and durable solution to the dispute.”
The US Senate noted that in recent years, there have been numerous dangerous and destabilizing incidents in waters near the coasts of the Philippines, China, Malaysia, and Vietnam and that the United States government is deeply concerned about unilateral actions by any claimant seeking to change the status quo through the use of coercion, intimidation, or military force, including the continued restrictions on access to Scarborough Reef and pressure on long-standing Philippine presence at the Second Thomas Shoal by the People’s Republic of China; actions by any state to prevent any other state from exercising its sovereign rights to the resources of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf by making claims to those areas that have no support in international law; declarations of administrative and military districts in contested areas in the South China Sea; and the imposition of new fishing regulations covering disputed areas, which have raised tensions in the region.
In adopting the measure, the US Senate stressed that the international law is important to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all states in the Asia-Pacific region, and the lack of clarity in accordance with international law by claimants with regard to their South China Sea claims can create uncertainty, insecurity, and instability. In clear terms, the US Senate stressed that the US Government opposes the use of intimidation, coercion, or force to assert a territorial claim in the South China Sea as it warned China to stop its destabilizing actions in the region.The US sense should be clear by now for China and all the parties thus push and respect a Code of Conduct to ensure that all shall have free access and benefit from what the disputed areas hold for all to explore.