Duterte did not raise sovereignty issue in South Sea China, only code of conduct

November 12, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said he did not raise sovereignty issue on the South China Sea during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Duterte said this in a press conference early Sunday after arriving from Vietnam for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Duterte mentioned the Chinese president said he was quite surprised with his very strong statements about a Code of Conduct.

“I am not raising any sovereignty issue. Do not worry,” he told Xi.

Duterte said he told Xi he had to make those remarks as he chairs this year’s Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), adding he “can’t escape” from his duty.

Before his meeting with Xi, Duterte said he will be frank to the Chinese president as the whole ASEAN is worried on how they should react in the sea that is militarized.

During their meeting, Xi told him the China’s militarization in the South China Sea is “nothing.”

Xi also assured him of “all the rights of the safe passage” in the disputed waters.

He also said they were discussing about who has more weapons than the sovereignty issue.

“I said nobody wants to talk it—to talk about it because it is not the time, it is not the time. And you can resolve it through dialogue and mutual consideration,” he said.

“At this time when everybody has in his pocket a large number of nuclear arms, China, America, Russia, Iran, North Korea, it’s not a good time to talk about quarrels,” he added.

Duterte said he raised the need to have a final Code of Conduct of parties in the South China Sea and Xi mentioned about a multilateral summit for this.

“President Xi Jinping mentioned about a summit or meeting, multilateral only to talk about the rules of conduct. It has nothing to do with sovereignty,” he said.

Duterte said if they go to the negotiating table mentioning claim of ownership, they will not talk about it but he added there will always be a time where this issue will be discussed.

“I said, that we have to talk about this. The Philippines and China minus everybody because we are the only one who go to the (arbitration) court,” Duterte said.

Duterte said he invite the Chinese president to visit the country and Xi told him he will visit “in due time”.  Ella Dionisio/DMS