Foreign Policy
The Philippines' territorial dispute with the People's Republic of China in the West Philippine Sea was the focus of Philippine foreign policy in 2014 as it has been(or the whole term of this preside Manila's decision in early 2013 to seek a ruling on its maritime boundary dispute with China at the International tribunal on the Law of sea bas added a new international legal dimension to the long running dispute. In 2014, the policy on the dispute gained greater international interest and support just as the filing of the case did in 2013 However, as in 2013 China's assertive actions in these disputed waters grew establishing greater Chinese control over a growing number of land features in the disputed waters.
Over the last two decades, the Philippines has been the strongest proponent for regional and international actions to counter Chinese unilateral assertion in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. For most of the time, the Philippine has been alone in ASEAN circles in the strength of its focus on this issue and demands for action. ASEAN wide attention on this issue was sparked by the unannounced positioning of a very large Chinese oil rig in disputed waters between Vietnam and China the week before the first annual ASEAN Summit. This led to ASEAN foreign ministers releasing a joint statement using the firmest diplomatic language on the disputes in the South China Sea in two decades, The Philippines was no longer the distant outlier in ASEAN circles on the south China Sea disputes.