NAN-F-21
Summit
Manila, April 27, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said there was no point discussing China’s sweeping claims and construction activity in the disputed South China Sea in a summit with South-East Asian leaders on Saturday.
Duterte said he also does not plan to bring up the ruling of an international arbitral tribunal that invalidated Beijing’s territorial claims to the South China Sea during the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders’ summit.
When asked if China could be pressured into halting its activities, he said “what will be the purpose of discussing it if you can’t do anything about it, you cannot do that, you are just dreaming.
“Who will dare pressure, who can pressure China, U.S, the construction has been going on for many years, ho can stop them, It’s only America.
“Why did they allow that and then they push us towards arbitration and they want us to commit suicide,” he told reporters after a meeting with visiting Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
The Philippines filed the arbitration case against China in 2013 after a stand-off between government ships of the two countries in Scarborough Shoal.
China refused to participate in the proceedings.
In July 2016, the international tribunal ruled that China has no legal or historic basis to its claim to the South China Sea.
The sea is a key shipping lane believed to be rich in mineral and marine resources, which are also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza