Four Southeast Asian states hold postponed maritime talks

The Philippines is set to hold four-way talks with fellow Southeast Asian countries with rival claims to South China Sea territories. The talks were postponed due to difficulties with the planning.

The talks, which were supposed to take place on December 12, were postponed less than a week before the parties were scheduled to reach Manila.

"It will not happen this coming December 12, but the parties are working on it," DFA Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez told reporters on December 7.

Once a new date is scheduled, the deputy foreign ministers of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are expected to discuss possible solutions to their maritime disputes.

China, which claims most of the sea including waters close to the shores of its neighbours, will not attend the meeting as it insists to solve its disputes bilaterally between Beijing and other Asian capitals.

Despite the Chinese approach, the Philippines' Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario believes the meeting could push the countries in the right direction to solve the disputes.

"We need to pay attention to the fact that there are many claimants and it has to be settled in a multilateral approach," he said.

"We respect what (China) is suggesting, but we do not accept this," he added.

"We view the situation in the South China Sea as a threat to the stability and security in the region."

Tensions have increased over the past two years with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of increasing its aggressive diplomatic tactics to assert its maritime claims.