Duterte to China: Let Filipinos fish in West Philippine Sea

Photo by Inquirer

President Rodrigo Duterte called on Beijing to let Filipinos fish in the disputed West Philippine Sea after an international tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines.

He said that China must comply with the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He also said that the country should maintain holding bilateral talks with Beijing.

“It’s about time that they should consider returning the privilege of the Filipinos to fish there,” the President said in an interview with reporters in Malacañang on Tuesday.

“China should be hearing us out. (It’s) about time that you lift the ban to tourists and allow the Filipinos to fish there,” he added.

He said that former President Fidel Ramos ‘did a good job’ when he was sent as special envoy to China and attended brief informal meetings with representatives of the Chinese government in Hongkong.

He said that the country will not bring up the arbitral court’s ruling in the meeting of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations in Laos next month.

“But if somebody would dwell on it, we will discuss… If you stop the bilateral (talks), where will we be headed? It’s better to continually engage China in a diplomatic dialogue rather than anger,” he said.

When asked about China’s condition not to use the international court’s decision in the bilateral negotiations between Beijing and Manila, he said: “No, there’s always a time for that. That’s impossible.”

“(We will bring that up when) we are face to face and we come up with hard facts,” he said.

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