(Reuters) — The South China Sea arbitration case will “take the back seat” during talks with China, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday (October 19) in Beijing.
Duterte said he would wait for the Chinese to bring up the dispute rather than doing so himself.
Duterte arrived in Beijing on Tuesday (October 18) with at least 200 top business people to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance, amid deteriorating ties with longtime ally the United States.
The effort to engage China, months after a Hague ruling over South China Sea disputes in favour of the Philippines, marks a reversal in Philippine foreign policy since Duterte took office on June 30. China refused to participate in the case or recognise its findings.
Speaking to reporters at his hotel, Duterte described the judgement as a “piece of paper”.
“If he mentions it in passing, I will just say: Mr. President I came here for visit. I do not want do not want to make hard impositions. I do not want to ask you to do it now because there will be time when we shall be doing it. But I have to be courteous and I have to wait for your president to mention it in passing for me to respond,” Duterte said.
“Of course, it has to take the back seat,” he added.
China has welcomed the shift in tone that has added to strains between the Philippines and the United States, even as Duterte has vowed not to surrender any sovereignty to Beijing.
Duterte said on Sunday (October 16) he would raise the arbitral ruling, and vowed not to deviate from the tribunal’s award.
“On the matter of fishing rights, I leave it to China to decide. We will be talking about it if they mention it in passing, the arbitral judgement, I would say, ok if that is what you want, if these are things which we really have to talk (about) preliminarily we can do it now. We can set the broad lines but there will be hard impositions there will be no asking of concessions,” he said.
In a series of conflicting statements, Duterte has insulted U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.S. ambassador in Manila for questioning his war on drugs, which has led to the deaths of 2,300 people. He told Obama to “go to hell” and alluded to severing U.S. ties.
China has expressed support for Duterte’s drug war, even as it has sparked concerns in Western capitals about extrajudicial killings.
Speaking earlier, Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said territorial disputes between China and the Philippines may take a lifetime to resolve but should not prevent warming ties.
