“Based on the aforementioned consensus, China and the Philippines have effectively controlled the South China Sea dispute through dialogue and consultation”, Hua said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
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The cruises will operate to and from the port of Sanya, a popular resort destination on Hainan Island.
“A Chinese ADIZ in the South China Sea could lead to tense mid-air encounters between USA and Chinese aircraft, especially as China has previously demonstrated a willingness to challenge US military aircraft in contested maritime areas”, said a March report by the U.S.
Mr. Aquino also strengthened the Philippine alliance with the U.S. to try to check China’s expansion in the South China Sea, where it’s built a series of artificial islands, creating a platform to assert its claims.
“China welcomes Mr. Yasay’s remarks”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing according to Xinhua news. He added that development would only take place in areas that do not need a military presence.
Tensions have been rising steadily over the South China Sea, driven largely by China’s military buildup and more robust assertions of its claim to virtually the entire crucial water body, along with its islands and reefs.
He will take his oath of office on June 30.
Their ties soured during the six-year term of outgoing President Aquino, whose government sued China before a United Nations tribunal over its claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building low-lying ocean features and sandy blips into islands for military bases.
Furthermore, on the media coverage, readers nearly always see reference to “China’s aggressive behavior or China’s aggressive land reclamation in the South China Sea”.
China has been angered by what it views as provocative United States military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss the South China Sea during the eighth round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held on Monday in Beijing, an official with the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
China claims most of the sea area, through which about $5 trillion worth of ship-borne goods passes every year.
And in a sign of a possibly warming view of China, Duterte called Xi Jinping “a great president”.
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He said “the Duterte administration is bent on dealing with China through peaceful dialogue, adding that there’s no other way but to go bilateral”. It is unlikely that the United States will abide by an ADIZ there, anyway, and Washington has already been working to help allies like the Philippines protect itself from a Chinese attack.
