U.S. attack sub visits Philippines

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

A United States nuclear submarine was spotted off the coast of Subic Bay close to a disputed shoal on Sunday (May 13) amid a territorial standoff between the Philippines and China.

The shoal, known in the Philippines as the Panatag Shoal but which the Chinese call Huangyan Island, is about 124 nautical miles off the main Philippine island of Luzon, near a former U.S. navy base in Subic Bay.

The Philippine Navy said in a statement that the USS North Carolina, the U.S. Navy's newest attack submarine, was only in the country for a week-long routine port call and had nothing to do with the escalating dispute with China.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said the U.S. government has had long standing ties with the Philippines, which include economic and military assistance.

"We obviously have an enduring relationship with the United States; I think all of you are aware of that. We have strategic partnership we have a treaty alliance, the only one we have, and our foundation of our relationship is very solid. We have shared values, shared history and shared sacrifice with them," he said.

Del Rosario said talks with China on easing tensions have been positive, while a long term solution on the Scarborough Shoal are still ongoing as both countries maintained sovereignty over the shoal.

China has imposed a fishing ban on the South China Sea to prevent over fishing, which the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department did not recognise, but had considered imposing its own fishing ban on its citizens.

Tensions have risen during the past two years because of fears that China, with its economic and military expansion, is becoming more assertive in its claims around the South China Sea.

The Philippines has constantly relied on its long term ally, the United States, for military support under a decades-old mutual defence treaty.

The row is one of many conflicting claims over islands, reefs and shoals in the South China Sea, that pit China against the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.