Philippine and Vietnamese officials have announced that they will sign a strategic partnership agreement at the end of this year to strengthen defense, political and economic ties between the two countries, including cooperation on the South China Sea issue, according to the Junweichangfeng military affairs blog, hosted on the website of Hong Kong's Phoenix New Media.
The Philippine secretary of foreign affairs Albert del Rosario told reporters on the evening of Sept. 2 that representatives from the two countries will sign the agreement during the APEC informal leaders meeting set to be held in Manila in November. "As strategic partners, we aim to deliver results... a cooperation at the highest possible level," he said.
The Vietnamese ambassador to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong said meanwhile, "We will deepen our cooperation in order to solve all the issues concerning the South China Sea in a most peaceful way in accordance with international law."
The rapid manner in which the proposal has been made is likely to have strategic considerations with an eye to allowing the two nations to tap the resources that lie beneath the contiguous waters of the disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea, according to the blog. The blog blasted the two countries, stating that they were "illegally occupying" and "engaging in land reclamation" on "Chinese islands and reefs," and stated that they were accelerating civil and military construction on the islands in order to "usurp Chinese sovereignty over the islands and reefs."
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