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MANILA -- The United States does not take a position on the competing sovereignty claims to the land features of the South China Sea, said visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry here on Wednesday.
At a joint press conference held with Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Kerry stressed the importance of turning the page and initiating negotiations and talks among claimants. He said the U.S. encourages all claimants to exercise restraint.(Philippines-U.S.-South China Sea)
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MANILA -- Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said Wednesday it is now time for China and the Philippines to proceed with the diplomatic process.
"The legal basis for us to move forward in making sure that our disputes with China is concerned will be resolved peacefully...that legal basis will now have to give way to the diplomatic processes that we have to pursue precisely for the peaceful resolution of these disputes," Yasay told a news conference.(Philippines-South China Sea)
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BEIJING -- More than 20 Chinese major mining firms are calling for an anti-dumping probe into iron ore imported from Australia and Brazil, an industry association said Tuesday.
An application for an investigation will be filed to the Ministry of Commerce by the Metallurgical Mines' Association of China on behalf of them. Major overseas miners have been selling large quantities of iron ore to China "at low prices," which "has and will continue to do substantial harm to the domestic industry," the association said in a statement.(China-Anti-dumping-Iron Ore)
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VIENTIANE -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday refuted a trilateral statement issued by the United States, Japan and Australia which touched upon the South China Sea situation, questioning the trio to be peacekeepers or troublemakers.
Wang made the remarks when attending the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane, in response to the statement issued by the three countries on Monday evening.(Laos-ASEAN) Enditem
