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South China Sea: ‘no sense’ in pushing Philippines’ case at UN General Assembly, Locsin says
- Foreign secretary rejects call for Philippines to raise issue of enforcing 2016 arbitral ruling at the General Assembly in September
- Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana welcomes news that his US counterpart Mark Esper is hoping to visit China
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The Philippine foreign secretary on Wednesday rejected a call for Manila to press its South China Sea dispute with Beijing at the United Nations General Assembly this September.
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Teodoro Locsin Jnr said it wouldn’t “make any sense” to revisit the 2016 ruling of a UN arbitral court that sided with Manila against China’s territorial claims as “we won it already”.
“Why would you want to re-litigate something that you won? You don’t like you won?” asked Locsin, referring to a suggestion by the former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario that the Philippines raise the issue of enforcement at the summit.
China has repeatedly said it does not recognise the 2016 ruling and the Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, who came to power shortly after the ruling was made, has previously suggested “setting aside” the judgment as he wants to bring the Philippines closer to China and away from its traditional ally, the United States.
However, a policy shift by Washington this month which saw the US reject most of Beijing’s claims in the strategic waterway as “unlawful” has prompted some observers to suggest now would be an opportune time for the Philippines to press its claims. Two American aircraft carriers have been carrying out exercises in the South China Sea this month in what some observers have characterised as a show of force to Beijing.
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But Locsin said there was no point in revisiting the issue.
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