Locsin and Pompeo hold talks to promote the PH-EE alliance. And confirm the arbitration ruling of the South China Sea

MANILA – The United States and the Philippines held talks on Friday on how to improve the two-nation alliance, including ways to uphold the 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s excessive claims on the disputed South China Sea, the State Department said. from the United States.

In a statement, US State Department chief spokesman Cale Brown said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the top diplomat in the outgoing Trump administration, and Secretary of Relations Foreign Ministry, Teodoro Locsin Jr., spoke by phone Friday, affirming cooperation on the arbitration ruling. .

“[Pompeo and Locsin] they discussed opportunities to further strengthen the US-Philippines alliance and the binding nature of the 2016 arbitral tribunal award for all parties in the South China Sea, ”the statement read.

“The two secretaries also discussed the economic, security, democratic and people-to-people ties that make up the strong bond between our two countries,” the brief statement read.

The United States has voiced its opinion by affirming freedom of navigation in the disputed sea, a vital waterway for world trade. China is asserting ownership over almost all the waters, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have partial claims.

The United States has also backed the plaintiffs to develop oil and gas resources in their respective exclusive economic zones in the waters, criticizing China for pushing its “illegal maritime claim” by intimidating its neighbors.

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President Rodrigo Duterte, on the other hand, told his fellow Southeast Asian leaders recently that the arbitration ruling four years ago against Beijing’s extensive claims in the South China Sea “cannot be diminished or ignored.”

The 2016 ruling by a UN-backed panel, which invoked the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, “is now part of international law,” according to Duterte.

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