Top PH diplomats in US to discuss Spratlys, extra-judicial killings, etc. – Interaksyon.com.

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda Basilio leads a group of senior diplomatic officials for high-level strategic talks with the United States on the escalating tension over the disputed Spratly Islands, extra-judicial killings of activists, and trade and other issues, US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas said Tuesday night.

The bilateral talks between Basilio and US Assistant State Secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell are conducted amid reports of expanded Chinese presence in the disputed islands.  They are a follow-up to the first high-level meeting held in Manila last January, when the US committed to help the Philippines its military capability in patrolling its territorial waters in the South China Sea.

The topics of the meeting include territorial defense and maritime security, rule of law and law enforcement, economics and trade, and regional and global diplomatic engagement. The parties will also discuss human trafficking and humanitarian aid.

The US government is “not taking sides” in the dispute that also involves Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan, the US ambassador said at the farewell party of US embassy press attaché Rebecca Thompson.

“But we call on all parties to exercise restraint,” Thomas said, reiterating the call of State Secretary Hillary Clinton in Hanoi for claimant parties to settle the dispute peacefully and use the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC) signed by China and ASEAN member-states as basis for the talks.

“All structures contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) should not be there,” he said, noting that “South China Sea is an important economic zone” where some $5.3 trillion worth of trade occur. He said it “should be open to all (international) navigations.”

Thomas said the US government maintains “important trade relations with both China and ASEAN and wants to see a peaceful resolution to all the (dispute) issues.”

On the extra-judicial killings during the Arroyo administration, Thomas said even as President Benigno Aquino III, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario have committed to work on justice for the victims and their families, no one has been prosecuted yet.

“We are also concerned with the cases of extra-judicial killings and the need for prosecution of people behind them,” said the top US diplomat.