Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Tuesday that the postponed four-party claimant meeting, which was supposed to discuss the overlapping claims in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), must be done privately.

It was del Rosario who announced the meeting last month during a press conference shortly after attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The meeting was supposed to take place today, but the department will instead meet with officials of the United States government for the US-Philippines Third Bilateral Strategic Dialogue that is being held at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.

“It was just a postponement. It has been reset [but] it is going to push through,” the Foreign Affairs chief said when asked if the meeting was merely postponed or cancelled.

But del Rosario remained mum about when the meeting will push through, only saying that the department “prefers to do it quietly.”

“There were conflicts in the schedule,” he added.

The alleged postponement of the meeting that was supposed to take place in the island-resort of Boracay (south of Manila) came at a surprise, since reports have indicated that ministers from the other three claimant-countries were already billed in several exclusive hotels in the island.

The meeting, which will include the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, is supposed to tackle China’s overarching claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines hoped that it will give the four claimants, which are all members of Asean, more leverage in dealing with a stronger China.

Del Rosario, however, refused to say as to which country backed out from the meeting.

“I think you just have to trust us [with the decision]. We will tell you if something happened,” he said at the sidelines of the luncheon hosted by British Minister of State Hugo Swire.

The Philippines made the initiative for the unprecedented four-party meeting by inviting Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei to discuss how relations can go about amid the tension in the region caused by the disputed territories.

The four countries are claimants to the resource-rich West Philippine Sea, along with China and Taiwan.

Tensions among countries, especially between the Philippines and China, simmered in April when Chinese ships prevented Philippine authorities from arresting Chinese fishermen caught poaching at the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

Beijing has frowned upon Manila’s proposal to bring the dispute before an international fora.