Talks between Hanoi and Manila are already underway as China moves into disputed area. For Benigno Aquino, “Perhaps it’s even worse today,” he said speaking about the situation. Meanwhile, joint military exercise US-Philippines military manoeuvres get underway.

Manila (AsiaNews) – Vietnam asked the Philippines to reach a strategic agreement to counterbalance Beijing’s push into the South China Sea, Filipino President Benigno Aquino said today in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

Aquino warned that, in view of China’s recent drive into the disputed area in the South China Sea, things are more alarming now than a year ago. “Perhaps it’s even worse today,” he said.

Last month, satellite images showed Chinese bulldozers building an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. These islands, together with the Paracels, are disputed by Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.

Aquino said that talks with Vietnam are part of Manila’s plan to strengthen diplomatic relations with countries with whom it has shared interests and goals.

When “your strategic partner starts with the overlapping claims, there’s more room to have a reasonable dialogue rather than reacting with the national interest, separate national interest,” the Filipino leader said.

According to local media reports, when officials from the Philippines and Vietnam met earlier this year, they agreed in a joint statement to focus on the South China Sea, expressing concern about China’s “massive reclamation activities” in the area.

No date for signing the pact has been set. However, “We’re actually just defining what it is … We’re working out the details,” Aquino explained.

For the Filipino president, a bilateral agreement with Vietnam (or with any other strategic partner like the US and Japan) should not be construed as anti-Chinese.

“I can assure them [the Chinese] that that [riling China] is not a priority with me,” he said. On the contrary, he insisted that stability in the South China Sea is in China’s economic interests, since 40 per cent of world trade goes through it.

“I don’t see the logic of their move,” he said speaking about China’s recent actions. “There’s a certain downside anytime they decide that ‘we want this, we want that’,” and then “just go ahead and do it,” and expect “everybody will say, please do so. You’re welcome to it.”

“I don’t think that will be the world reaction," he noted. In fact, on 30 March, the Filipino government turned to a UN tribunal to challenge Beijing’s ‘cow tongue’ claims in the disputed areas.

China has refused to take part in the proceedings. A decision could be delivered within six months or by early next year.

Even assuming that an agreement with Beijing were possible and his government and China came to a bilateral agreement on the issue, Aquino noted that any deal would be next to useless because there are four other claimants besides the Philippines and China. “How can we have an agreement binding on the other four?” he said.

In a sign of increasing tensions, the Philippines and the United States on Monday began joint military training exercises in the South China Sea.

A total of 6,656 US soldiers and 76 aircraft along with 5,023 Filipino troops and 13 aircraft are participating in the activity.

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