Renaming of South China Sea draws flak

Local newspaper Tribune said in an editorial on September 15 that the order was a move toward escalation of the conflict and Noynoy (referring to President Aquino) appears to have taken that road which undoubtedly would be responded to in kind by China.

Noynoy has thus placed the Philippines in an irreversible path toward alienation from the region and, consequently, deep reliance on the United States.

Earlier, it was reported by the DFA that Singapore supported the Philippine move to rename parts of South China Sea into West Philippine Sea.  

A news item carried by two major daily newspapers in Manila quoted Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario as having thanked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong "for the very strong support that Singapore has given the Philippines in terms of its position in the West Philippine Sea."

The support to the Philippine move by Singapore was supposedly given by Lee to President Aquino when the two met at the Vladivostok summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation last September 9.  

But Singapore has denied that there was such a support.  

"We have seen the reports in question,"said the spokesperson of the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs."You all know how free the Filipino media is; they can even be very free with the facts."

The Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has clarified that it remains neutral regarding South China Sea territorial disputes.

"There has been no change to Singapore's position. We do not take sides on the merits or otherwise of the various specific disputes in the South China Sea,"said the Ministry in its website.

China's Taiwan has also categorically said that it does not recognize a unilateral move by the Philippines to rename the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea.

Taiwan's view was carried by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA).

China has said that it is committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the South China Sea and is willing to negotiate with the other claimant-countries through bilateral negotiations but without the intervention of other foreign powers.