NAN-F-47
Peace
Manila, May 3, 2017 (dpa/NAN) President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday that Beijing was taking a key role in keeping the peace on the Korean Peninsula, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Duterte shared the Philippines’ positions on several salient issues during a telephone conversation with Xi amid heightened tensions in the region over North Korea’s nuclear programme and missile tests.
The presidents talked on the developments on the Korean Peninsula, and he referred to China’s important role in promoting peace.
China’s influence in the region, in particular as Pyongyang’s only major ally, has also been highlighted in the last week by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Duterte briefed Xi on an annual regional leaders’ summit last weekend in Manila, saying that heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had made a “commitment to continue promoting peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.”
Xi said that bilateral ties between the Philippines and China have “greatly improved” since meeting Duterte twice in 2016 and reaching “important agreements with him.
“At present, the two countries are deepening political mutual trust and carrying out cooperation in various fields.
“A channel of dialogue and consultation on the South China Sea issue has also been set up,” Xi said.
Relations between the Philippines and China were strained when Manila filed an arbitration case against Beijing before an international tribunal in The Hague in 2013.
In 2016, the tribunal ruled that China has no legal or historical basis to claim almost the entire South China Sea, a key shipping lane believed to be rich in mineral and marine resources. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/SH
=====
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza