The Philippine foreign secretary brought up the two-month long standoff in the South China Sea between his country and China in talks with visiting Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in Manila.
“We discussed the West Philippine Sea issue, the peaceful resolution of the dispute in accordance with international law,” said Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, according to reports in domestic media.
Del Rosario said Foreign minister Lwin said his country is considering the matter. The discussion came as Philippine and Chinese ships maintained their standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, an outcropping in the South China Sea which they both claim.In April, Chinese government vessels blocked Philippine ships from arresting Chinese fishermen at the shoal.
The Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. Burma and China are close allies and have important economic relations.
Burma itself was in a decades-long maritime dispute with Bangladesh, which ended after a ruling by a United Nations court in March.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea fixed new boundaries that were seen as a compromise to a decades-old dispute involving territorial rights to resource-rich areas in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Bangladesh claimed 66,486 square miles and received a 68,972 square mile area in the Bay of Bengal, and they received all they wanted. St Martin’s island is included in Bangladesh’s maritime boundary, and Burma’s must relinquish its claim to the island.
The decades-long dispute had led to tense stand-offs involving war ships in 2008 when Bangladesh accused Burma of exploring for gas in disputed waters.
Burma has discovered huge reserves of natural gas in the Bay of Bengal and has said it plans to explore further in the area. Burma also said it was satisfied with the ruling, which gave it rights to a resource-rich area off its shores.
