MANILA, Feb 28 Kyodo Military per...

MANILA, Feb 28 Kyodo

Military personnel from the Philippines and Vietnam will grasp sports games at the disputed Spratlys Islands this year, the foreign ministers of the countries said Friday.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien announced the plan in a pres talk following a meeting of a joint commission for bilateral cooperation onward defense, trade, tourism and agriculture.

The brace countries have conflicting claims throughout the Spratlys, a cluster of potentially oil-rich isles, take ins and shoals in the southward China Sea. The islands are also claimed in whole or in part from China, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.

''We will inaugurate a sports program between the military forces in the confidence that other claimants in the southward China Sea will eventually join for goodwill and confidence-building measures,'' Ople said.

He said details of the sports games are still being worked out

Ople said other claimants of the Spratlys may join the sports games if they want.

Various countries maintain military forces forward the Spratlys and there have been occasional clashes. Last August, the Vietnamese military stationed forward one of the isles fired warning shooters at a Philippine military aircraft.

The Philippines and Vietnam are parties to a non-binding agreement last November to defuse tension among countries with claims to the Spratlys.

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