Duterte ‘will talk to Chinese’ if South China Sea issue stalls

MANILA — Mr Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking Davao City Mayor who is leading the Philippines presidential polls, said he will hold bilateral talks with China to resolve a territorial dispute in the South China Sea if the current multilateral discussions do not bear fruit within two years.

Mr Duterte told supporters Sunday night on Liwasang Bonifacio square in Manila City that he will defend the Philippines’ claims in the contested waters while remaining open to the possibility of joint exploration for energy assets with China. He may also ask China to help build key railway projects connecting Manila to provinces and for assistance with a long-standing plan for a train system in Mindanao, his home region.

“If negotiations will be in still waters in one or two years, I will talk to the Chinese,” said Mr Duterte, 71, to a crowd of about a thousand people.

Bilateral talks would mark a departure from the policy of outgoing President Benigno Aquino, who has brought China before an international arbitration panel to try to resolve the dispute, leading to a deterioration in bilateral ties.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to rule in coming weeks on the case the Philippines brought against China’s claim to virtually all of the South China Sea, which also sees conflicting claims from Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.

Beijing has been more aggressively asserting its claims to more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea in recent years, reclaiming more than 1,200ha of land to build out artificial islands. China’s assertive pursuit has sparked United States’ and regional concerns, prompting Washington to repeatedly conduct freedom-of-navigation operations disputing Beijing’s maritime claims in recent years.

The international arbitration ruling is widely expected to favour the Philippines and risks raising regional tensions because China, although a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) under which the case is being heard, rejects the court’s jurisdiction over the case.

Washington has lobbied hard to get countries to state that the court’s ruling, expected late this month or early next month, is binding. The court has no enforcement powers and its decisions have been ignored in the past.

China has been lobbying hard too, and said recently that it had agreed with three Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) members — Brunei, Cambodia and Laos — that South China Sea territorial disputes should not affect relations between the bloc and Beijing.

Observers said that it was an attempt against ASEAN unity. Last week, two of Singapore’s senior envoys — speaking at a conference in their personal capacity — noted that China was splitting ASEAN by reaching a consensus with the three ASEAN states on the issue, drawing Beijing’s ire.

Mr Duterte has said he will tout the Philippines’ alliance with Western powers such as the US to get China to accept Manila’s position.

He also said he would ride a jet ski to a disputed island occupied by China and personally stake the Philippines’ claims.

Mr Duterte was leading the field of five candidates for the May 9 election with 33 per cent support, with Senator Grace Poe in second place with 22 per cent, according to the latest opinion poll by Pulse Asia Research, released by ABS-CBN on April 29.

Mr Duterte, who ruled Davao for 22 years and is credited with improving security and the economy of the southern city, also told supporters during his May 1 speech that he will not live in the presidential residence, has no plans to hold a big inaugural event, and will shun banquets with foreign envoys. BLOOMBERG