President-elect Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte has served notice he would not back down on asserting the Philippine claim on its unresolved territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.
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“A friendly, stable and sound China-Philippines relationship is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people”, Xi said in a congratulatory message to Duterte on Monday after his proclamation as the next Philippine president.
China will “pressure” the United States on maritime issues at talks in Beijing next week because of Chinese concern about an increased USA military presence in the disputed South China Sea, a major state-run newspaper said on Tuesday.
The disputes for territories and sovereignty over Paracels and the Spratlys involved Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Vietnam, China and Taiwan.
Beijing and Manila are now awaiting a ruling on the South China Sea case by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague, Netherlands.
The Philippines is seeking a clarification of United Nations maritime laws that could undermine China’s claims to 90% of the South China Sea.
China on Tuesday said it will raise its major concerns, including the South China Sea, Tibet and Taiwan issues, with the U.S. during the bilateral annual “Strategic and Economic Dialogue” to be held here next month. But he also emphasized that Philippine policy would not hew to the expectations of allies: “We have this pact with the west, but I want everybody to know that we will be charting a course of our own.it will be a line that is not meant to please anybody but the Filipino interest”, he said at a press event Tuesday.
Unlike Aquino, the incoming Philippine President has expressed willingness to engage China in bilateral talks on the issue. “This is necessary. I don’t think there are any other way to resolve these disputes except talking to each other”.
“China hopes the United States would honor its commitment of not taking sides and fix its stand according to what is right or wrong, not according to allies”, Zheng said.
Worst of all, China’s policy on the South China Sea has been grossly misperceived as a strategic move to challenge US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. “However, the two still have many common interests”, the paper said. Those assets have grown significantly since then, as China has built military facilities on artificial islands carved out of reefs and shoals that form part of Vietnam and the Philippines’s Spratly and Paracel Islands.
Cui mentioned that some of the perceptions in the United States and elsewhere about China’s policy and intentions in the area “are misplaced”.
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Earlier, during his address to the audience, Wu emphasized that China will not implement the court’s decision – expected this month or next – and that the global community should understand that Beijing will never give up its legitimate territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and rights in the South China Sea.
