(VOVworld) – On Tuesday, Filipino Foreign Minister Albert Del Rosario said the Philippines will back a U.S. call to halt land reclamation in disputed areas of the East Sea despite China's insistence that the issue should not be raised at the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, which kicked off in Kuala Lumpur on the same day.

The opening ceremony of the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia (Photo: Reuters)

Foreign Minister Albert Del Rosario said the Philippines was ready to help de-escalate tensions in the disputed region, if China and other claimant states agreed to be bound by the same conditions. He said that the Philippines fully supports and will pro-actively promote the call from the United States for the '3 halts': a halt to reclamation, a halt to construction, and a halt to aggressive actions that could further heighten tensions. Del Rosario added that the Philippines planned to discuss the topic at the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting. Del Rosario’s comments come a day after China said it did not want the contentious issue to be discussed at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering. Neither China nor the United States are members of the regional body, but both will be represented during several days of talks in the Malaysian capital. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday.