Tuesday, March 23, 1999 Published at 16:25 GMT
China remains firm on Spratlys
Delegation leaders Lauro Baja and Wang Yi at the start of the two-day session
Two days of talks in the Philippine capital, Manila, have failed to resolve differences between the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands.
Manila had accused the authorities in Beijing of building facilities with possible gun emplacements and navigational radar on Mischief Reef which, it said, could be used for military purposes.
The Philippine Government says the reef, 135 nautical miles off its southwestern island of Palawan, is within its exclusive economic zone.
China's Assistant Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, repeated Beijing's assurances that the structures are only shelters for Chinese fishermen. Once the facilities are completed and relations with the Philippines improves, Beijing will give "positive consideration" to the use by Filipino fishermen of the "sheltering facilities," Mr Wang said.
Mr Baja said he was "not deliriously happy" with the outcome of the talks.
The disputed reef is within the area defined by international law as the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines said after the conclusion of the talks that he might "elevate the issue to the United Nations". The president met UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York last week, and asked him to help find a peaceful solution to the row.
In addition to China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan all want a stake in the chain's future. The islands lie close to important shipping lanes and may possess important oil, gas and other mineral resources.
The BBC Correspondent in Manila, John MacLean, says that the five countries claiming territorial rights to the Spratly Islands will learn one lesson from the talks in Manila this week - that diplomacy is unlikely to stop China from vigorously exercising its claim to the Spratly Islands.
For China, he says, the Spratlys are a strategic prize not to be given away over the negotiating table.