Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Friday that he will press China to reconsider a proposal to bring their territorial dispute over the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands to a U.N. tribunal when he visits Beijing later this year.
China has already rejected the proposal, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said earlier this week.
Aquino told reporters going to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea “is the only recourse left open to us.”
“We want to establish first precisely who is in the right in terms of the definition of the rights imbued under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he added.
He said yes when asked if he will press China about the proposal when he visitsBeijing.
Officials earlier said Aquino’s visit to China will likely take place in late August or early September.
The Spratlys, a chain of barren, largely uninhabited islands, reefs and banks in the South China Sea, are claimed in their entirety or partly by China,Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
The Philippines alleges Chinese forces intruded at least nine times into Manila-claimed areas in the Spratly Islands since February, allegations that sparked an exchange of diplomatic protests and verbal jabs.Manila refers to the waters there as West Philippine Sea.
Aquino has strongly criticized China, saying last month his country would not be bullied by Beijing in the disputed region.
