Philippines: Duterte says no bargains with China on territorial dispute
Protesters display placards during a rally outside of the Chinese Consulate in Manila ahead of the ruling in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute. Pic: AP.
16th October 2016
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed Sunday that he will raise the South China Sea dispute with China during his visit next week, and that he will stand by the arbitration court’s ruling favoring his country.
The intrepid leader who has been courting controversy with his pivot to China, told a media briefing in Davao City that there would be no bargaining in the matter, nor any “hard imposition” during talks.
“We will stick to our claim. We do not bargain anything there. We continue to insist that that’s ours and that the international tribunal decision will be taken up.
“But there will be no hard impositions,” he was quoted by GMA News as saying.
“We will talk but maybe paraphrase everything in the [arbitral] judgment and set the limits of our territories, he added.
According to the local daily, the politician said there can be no middle ground when it comes to the Philippines’ claim over disputed territories in the South China Sea.
He said that it is “[either] we go to trouble or we talk. We cannot choose the path there in between.”
“I will be very careful not to bargain anything for after all, I cannot give what is not mine and which I am not empowered to do by any such stretch of imagination,” he added.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. Pic: AP
Duterte was speaking ahead of his visit to Brunei. After Brunei, the president will head to China from Oct 18 to 21 along with more than 200 business executives for his first state visit to the republic, and the country’s first since 2011.
According to The Philippine Star, the president will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the National People’s Congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang as well as members of the Filipino community living in China.
Earlier this week, however, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said China will avoid discussing the historic ruling on the South China Sea during the meeting with Duterte.
“You know our position on the arbitration and the award, so I don’t expect, and I don’t hope, that issues that can be divided will be picked up,” Zhao said, according to Rappler on Friday.
On July 12, China lost to the Philippines an international court ruling on its territorial claims in the South China Sea. In the ruling by the arbitration court in The Hague, it was stated that China had no historical title over the South China Sea and that it had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights.
Duterte has stated his intention to foster better ties with China and Russia, and revamping the Philippine foreign policy that has long been pro-Washington. After making headlines for labeling Obama a “son of a bitch” and ordering U.S. troops to leave the Philippines, Duterte claimed of possible deals with China and Russia to boost his country’s military arsenal.
