US lauds Philippines's 'measured' response after Hague ruling

MANILA, Philippines — Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the United States' agreement with the Philippines on how it responded after the arbitral tribunal based in the Hague delivered a victory for its case against China.

"In our meeting today, I told Foreign Secretary (Perfecto Yasay Jr.) that we appreciate the very responsible and measured way that the Philippine government has responded to the decision, that's been important," Kerry said at a press conference in Manila on Wednesday.

Some observers have leveled criticism at Yasay for his sober and cautious tone after the favorable landmark decision, and for taking a soft stance against China despite its legal defeat over maritime claims in the South China Sea.

Echoing Kerry's statement, US Ambassador to the Philippines Phillip Goldberg said Washington admired how the Philippines acted maturely in dealing with the decision issued July 12.

"President Duterte said famously: we won't taunt, we won't flaunt. And I think that kind of measured approach, that responsible approach is one that we agree with, one with admire and that it's being done in a very mature way that the Philippines will now take this decision and use it as a basis for moving forward," Goldberg said in an inteview on ANC's "Headstart" on Thursday.

"We've always urged all the parties, all the claimants to come to agreements in a legal, peaceful, diplomatic way and the Philippines is moving in that direction," he added.

Yasay on Wednesday said that while many expected the Philippine officials to say more about the ruling, "diplomatic processes" based on the law take precedence in efforts to resolve the disputes moving forward.

"We did not want to flaunt. We did not want to gloat with our victory with respect to the arbitral award. We are happy about it. The award went beyond our expectations in terms of recognizing our rights under UNCLOS," Yasay said at a televised press conference.

"We made a holding statement that was sober and restrained because we did not want to come up with any provocative statements or aggressive statements that would only further heighten tensions," Yasay also said.

Professor Renato de Castro, trustee of think tank Stratbase ADR Institute, said the "muted" reaction of Manila to the tribunal award was not to push China to react adversely against Filipino fishermen and troops stationed on features in the West Philippine Sea.

"This may also because of the government’s realization that it cannot sly implement the PCA's rewards because of the weakness of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard compared with the large and well-equipped Chinese naval and civilian presence in the South China Sea," De Castro wrote in an analysis for Philstar.com.