India supports 'peaceful resolution' of South China Sea issue: Salman Khurshid

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday reiterated

India's support towards resolving the issue of the South China Sea peacefully, and suggested that Philippines should continue talking with China regarding the dispute.

"India has clearly stated our position of support for free access to sea lanes, and of course, the international law or UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea) for the basis of a peaceful resolution of any such disputes if they arise," Khurshid said after heading a lecture on India's foreign policy to Filipino civil servants here today.

Khurshid, who is on a two-day bilateral meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario, told the media that India will not interfere with the ongoing disputes in the South China sea, but maintains its support for a peaceful resolution for the sake of freedom of navigation.

While urging Manila to continue talking with Beijing, Khurshid said that it would help find a mutual ground that both Philippines and China can agree on.

"We have ourselves an issue about the border with China, but after something very ugly in 1962, China and India have both mutually developed mechanisms that have allowed for two things: one, to ring or fence the area of difference and to find a steady, a slow but steady solution. It's a mechanism which may in fact find an extra, improved version during our Prime Minister's visit to China," he said.

"We do think that by discourse, by conversation, by dialogue peacefully a solution can be found, and I have said, when you deal with the Chinese, you have to be patient. It is important because it's an old civilization, we are an old civilization, we have learnt to work with patience in a steady and at a pace that is acceptable to both," he added.

China, Taiwan and four Southeast Asian states, including the Philippines and Vietnam, have conflicting claims over a group of Islands in the South China Sea-an area believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.

China and the Philippines have faced off on a number of occasions in the disputed waters, with Manila filing several diplomatic protests against Beijing for heightening tension.