ShareThisPASAY CITY — Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed that concluding a binding regional code of conduct in the South China Sea “is a way forward” to ensuring maritime security in the Asia-Pacific.
The Philippines and other countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have signed what is known as a Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea (DOC-SCS) in 2002, and the U.S. has indicated it wants to be an eventual party to a multi-lateral agreement that is binding to all parties because the SCS is an international maritime lane.
Del Rosario and Clinton talked on Sunday, when the latter phoned up Del Rosario to congratulate him on his appointment last February as the new head of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Clinton and del Rosario also discussed issues of bilateral interest, including the Philippines-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.
In reporting Clinton’s call to Del Rosario, DFA quoted Del Rosario as saying that “it is in the best interest of the region to transform this potential flashpoint into a Zone of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation through sustained consultation and dialogue.”
During the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Lombok, Indonesia last January 16, there was an agreement about a greater sense of urgency in finalizing the guidelines of the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Del Rosario is a former ambassador to the United States.
The Dialogue, a platform for regular and sustained dialogue between the two countries, “would raise their partnership to the next higher level,” the DFA said in reporting Clinton’s call. The first such dialogue was held last January 27 to 28 in Manila.
They also discussed the regional architecture mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific region, notably the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS), both organizations of which include the U.S. as member. Washington will participate in the 6th EAS in Indonesia in October this year, its first as a full member.
U.S. President Barack Obama will join the Indonesia EAS.
Del Rosario told Clinton he welcomed U.S. membership in the EAS and expressed the hope that ASEAN will continue to play a central role in the EAS, which is a crucial building bloc in the evolving regional architecture, DFA added.
He expressed that the expansion of the EAS is a positive development, and the Philippines looks forward to working with the U.S. to ensure that the EAS is a strategic and Leaders-led forum.
The repatriation of thousands of Filipino workers out of Libya was also touched upon during their phone conversation, DFA noted.