Manila may seek US, ASEAN support on Spratlys

AFTER CHINA SENDS PATROL BOAT 

By Christian V. Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15:28:00 03/16/2009 

MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang said it might seek the help of its traditional military ally, the United States, and other Southeast Asian countries in dealing with China’s deployment of a patrol boat to disputed territories in the South China Sea. 

“Our national security advisers are already looking into other options,” Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokesperson, said in a press briefing on Monday. “If we really need to ask the help of our allies and the other countries in the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], then we might be forced to do so.” 

But Fajardo maintained that diplomacy would still be the first option in resolving the problem and that the issue of conflicting claims to the Spratlys Islands should be resolved at the level of the United Nations. 

Still, she added, “as much as we would like this to be settled in the United Nations, of course the Philippine government has also to be prepared for whatever will happen.” 

“We cannot just depend on the United Nations as much as that should be the first line of defense [which is] diplomacy, but of course we have to protect our sovereignty as much as China is doing now,” she said.

Related Article:

RP to stick to Asean-China pact on Spratlys – Palace