17 December 2016•Update: 17 December 2016
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday that he would not press China over a ruling by an international court in favor of Manila in the disputed South China Sea.
“In the play of politics now, I will set aside the arbitral ruling,” Duterte was quoted by Inquirer.net as saying after returning from a trip to Cambodia and Singapore.
The comments were in response to a recent report by a United States-based think tank saying that China has installed military weapons on seven artificial islands it built in an eastern area of the sea -- which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
“I will not impose anything on China. Why? Because the politics here in Southeast Asia is changing. Like us now, I will separate or I will demand that you [U.S. forces] go out of my country,” Duterte said Saturday.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea including a cluster of islands, reefs and atolls further south called the Spratlys.
In July, the Philippines secured a ruling at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague which rejected Chinese claims to much of the sea, along with a 322-kilometer (200-mile) exclusive economic zone around the Spratly Islands.
Since taking office June 30, Duterte has announced his administration’s pursuit of an “independent” foreign policy, declaring his country’s “separation” from long-time ally the U.S. as it seeks to improve relations with China and Russia.
His defense secretary, however, expressed concern earlier this week over the report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which was based off its observation of China’s construction of hexagonal structures on several reefs -- including those also claimed by the Philippines.
“We are verifying. But if true, it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade,” Delfin Lorenzana told reporters.
“It would mean that the Chinese are militarizing the area which is not good,” GMA News quoted him as saying.
Saturday’s remarks were not the first in which Duterte said he would temporarily set aside the dispute with China.
After he made similar comments in October, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had warned that Duterte could be impeached if he concedes to Beijing in relation to a dispute over the Scarborough Shoal in the sea.
