South China Sea issue “regular feature” of discussions in ASEAN summit: DFA

April 20, 2018

The territorial dispute in South China Sea will be discussed in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders' Summit this month in Singapore as it is a "regular feature" of discussions among the leaders, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

In a press briefing in Malacanang, DFA Assistant Secretary Ma. Hellen dela Vega said President Rodrigo Duterte will be joining Southeast Asian leaders in the 32nd ASEAN Summit on April 27-28 upon the invitation of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"Definitely the South China Sea is always a regular feature of our discussions. And one special --- if I could just mention is because come August, we will be taking the country coordinatorship of the dialogue with China," she said.

ASEAN member countries the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the South China Sea. The other claimants in the area are China and Taiwan.

ASEAN has been pushing for a binding Code of Conduct in South China Sea amid China's reclamation and militarization of the disputed waters.

Apparently, there is no significant development on code of conduct discussion.

"So what we can say at this stage is that so far what we have discussed is that we will begin with the issues that are easier to deal with and then moving on to the more difficult ones," Dela Vega said.

The government is also arranging a bilateral meeting between Duterte and Loong at the ASEAN sidelines, she said.

Asked if Duterte will personally apologize to Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for his earlier statement there was "genocide" of Rohingya in Rakhine state of Myanmar, Dela Vega said the president had issued a statement on the matter.

"But to personally approach Daw Suu, I think that’s something that we can leave up to him (Duterte) because you know I can’t predict what the leaders will do there in Singapore, in Istana because the venue for the meeting will be in Istana," she said.

Duterte had issued an apology for his genocide remark, saying his statement was a "satire" meant to mock the United Nations, which has been critical of his bloody war on drugs.

Dela Vega said it would not be a surprise if Suu Kyi would brief her counterparts on the developments in Rakhine.

Duterte will also meet with the Filipino community during his trip to Singapore, host to about 180,000 Filipinos. Celerina Monte/DMS