Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Philippines on building on disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), has not had discussions with his Philippine counterpart on building on disputed islands in the South China Sea. However, I discussed the situation in the South China Sea with Philippine interlocutors when I visited Manila in December, underlining the British Government's well known position. As the Foreign Secretary made clear in a speech on 18 January, we oppose the militarisation of the South China Sea and we urge all parties to respect freedom of navigation and settle their disputes peacefully in accordance with international law. We regard last year's ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as binding on both China and the Philippines.