Spratlys conflict involving US not likely: envoy By Michaela P. del Callar 05/17/2011

Spratlys conflict involving US not likely: envoy

By Michaela P. del Callar 05/17/2011

An American diplomat yesterday said the chance of an armed conflict breaking out in the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea that would prompt Washington to help its ally, the Philippines, is remote or may never happen.

Ambassador David Carden, visiting US Permanent Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), however, stressed that Asian countries with overlapping claims should involve other stakeholders like the United States to try to resolve the problem despite China’s objection to foreign intervention.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during an Asean Summit in Hanoi in 2010 called for unfettered international access to the waters and articulated the need for the bloc “to have a mechanism in place to resolve its disputes and to bring in stakeholders,” Carden said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110517hed3.html