China says APEC not venue for South China Sea discussion

Wang also met Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario on Tuesday and is expected to have discussed how to improve relationships between the two countries. He waved but ignored questions shouted at him by journalists as he stepped out of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The TPP, a binding trade agreement that contains measures to lower trade barriers, such as tariffs, and establishes an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, was introduced by United States President Barack Obama in APEC 2009, del Rosario said.

China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5-trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

Marquez said 70 percent of the security team deployed for APEC are PNP personnel, but credited Metro Manila Development Authority for the traffic scheme, the Philippine Coast Guard for maritime security, and the Philippine Air Force for air traffic and security.

Marcos, however, said the arbitration case will not solve by itself the territorial dispute between the two countries so Manila should explore all avenues for possible solutions, including bilateral talks with China.

“They expressed hope the contentious issues will not be raised (at APEC) and we said we will endeavour on our side not to raise contentious maritime issues”, Charles Jose, Manila’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a news conference.

Mr Key will meet with other APEC political leaders and address the APEC CEO Summit, which will be attended by 700 CEOs from across the region. But both have not characterized the proposed alliance as targeting Beijing, which they have strongly criticized for its increasingly aggressive steps to assert its claims in the disputed waters.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino’s only meeting with a Chinese leader in recent years was a very brief encounter with Xi at a tree planting ceremony on the sidelines of the last APEC summit, which China hosted.

“The competencies of all the officers made us more confident that we will be successful in hosting the big show”, Marquez said.

China will seek to push its own vision of an Asia-Pacific trade pact at a regional summit next week, senior officials said on Tuesday, after this month’s release of a rival US-led deal that pointedly excludes the Asian giant.

China has insisted on resolving the disputes through bilateral talks but the Philippines brought its arbitration case to the Hague-based global tribunal UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which now began hearing the Manila’s case against Beijing on the South China Sea dispute.

Obama, who strongly pushed the TPP as a foundation for “21st century trade”, heralded the pact as a boost to the United States economy that would also protect workers and the environment. “It is a blatant assault on the people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly”, said Casiño.