Give Beijing Time to Settle South China Sea Disputes, Philippine President Says

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that his government would give China sufficient time to solve bilateral disputes arising from competing claims in the South China Sea, insisting that Beijing has been a “really good neighbor” despite ignoring an arbitration case won by Manila.

Speaking before government officials and other guests that included the Chinese envoy to Manila, Duterte emphasized that, in his two years in office, he had made it a priority to repair bilateral relations frayed by a 2016 arbitration court ruling in favor of the Philippines.

“We will allow them the sufficient period to sort out things and I’m sure that, in the end, China will be fair,” Duterte said.

He said China was working on a “blueprint” to solve the problem, but he did not elaborate.

“But in the days to come, we would realize that China, after all, is really a good neighbor,” Duterte said.

Manila took Beijing to court in 2013, a year after Chinese ships strayed into Scarborough Shoal, just west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. China stood its ground and stationed coast guard ships around Scarborough, which is considered by the international community as part of the Philippines’ continental shelf.

After three years, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of Manila. But China ignored the ruling, which came just a month after Duterte was elected into office in 2016.

“Personally I’ve been to China. I have talked to the leadership of the government and … I have had the honor of meeting President Xi and talked about a lot about friendships and cooperation,” Duterte said Tuesday, referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“Each geopolitics position is something which is critical to China and the stand which we disagreed as we filed the arbitration case,” he said.

However, Duterte said, both countries have in the meantime agreed to work together to promote economic cooperation, and that Beijing has “never asked for any – not even a one square [meter] of real estate in this country.”

Xi had promised to revisit the territorial dispute “at some other time” as China has to individually deal with all claimant counties in the region, Duterte said.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including areas near the shores of smaller neighbors, citing historical grounds. Apart from China and the Philippines, other Southeast Asian countries – Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam – along with Beijing’s rival Taiwan claim parts of the potentially rich and strategic sea region.

Felipe Villamor contributed to this report from Manila.