Australia to sea claimants: Resolve dispute peacefully

isiting ustralian oreign inister ulie ishop said her country does not take sides in the South hina Sea dispute ut urges all clai ants to resolve their differences peacefully and la fully.

arious clai s in the est hilippines Sea South hina Sea and concerns over gro ing tensions in the area ere discussed in yesterday s th hilippines- ustralia inisterial eeting at the epart ent of oreign ffairs.

ishop said ustralia and hilippines had a lengthy discussion on the challenges facing the region in ter s of territorial clai s in the South hina Sea as ell as in the Senkaku iaoyu slands et een apan and hina in the ast hina Sea.

ustralia urged all parties not to escalate tensions and to recogni e that any countries have interest in ensuring peace.

e elieve that there should e consultation that there should e dialogue in the case of the South hina Sea. e support S o ectives in concluding a ode of onduct ith hina and e hope that there ill e so e early progress on that ode of onduct ishop said noting that ustralia has legiti ate interest in these atters.

xpressing concern on the sta ility and peace in the region ishop stressed the role of the S ssociation of Southeast sian ations in the peaceful resolution of the sea ro .

oreign ffairs Secretary l ert del osario infor ed ustralia a out a e orial to e su itted y the hilippines on arch to the ar itral ody under the nited ations onvention on the a of the Sea S efore hich it has filed a case over the territorial dispute.

he hilippines has aintained that the core issue in the dispute as hina s sovereignty stand on al ost the entire South hina Sea hich it said as a gross violation of the international la .

ecause of this the hilippines had to look for other eans to address the issue including echanis s that ould anage the tension and settle the disputes.

n ter s of anaging tension the hilippines told ustralian delegates that it relied on the eclaration on the onduct of arties in the South hina Sea as anila looks for a speedy conclusion of the ode of onduct in the South hina Sea .

n ter s of settling the dispute e are looking for clarification and entitle ent of all parties not only hina and hilippines ut all countries that use the sea ays for their trade. e elieve that e have exhausted all possi ilities el osario told ournalists during a riefing.

WILLY PEREZ President Aquino welcomes Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop during a courtesy call at Malacañang yesterday. At right is Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.