Dialogue still best way to resolve West PH Sea row with China - DFA chief

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) doesn't see the need to seek help from the international community, particularly the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), despite China's continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as the Philippines' top diplomat believes that the power of dialogue is still working.

- By JOSEPH PEDRAJAS

DFA Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, who was DFA's lead negotiator for bilateral relations prior to assuming the agency's top post, told House lawmakers that the bilateral mechanism between Manila and Beijing "is so far being effective" in terms of containing China's repeated incursion into the Philippines' territorial waters.

On top of that, the transparency initiative that the government launched—wherein the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), among other agencies, publicized China's continued aggression in the waters—is "also deterring certain situation".