Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte before their bilateral meeting during the Belt and Road Forum, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on May 15. REUTERS/Etienne Oliveau/Pool MANILA — The Philippines and China played down on Monday a warning by President Rodrigo Duterte that China would go to war if the Philippines drilled for oil in the disputed South China Sea.

The outspoken Philippine president has been facing criticism at home for being what some people see as too soft on China over a long-running territorial dispute.

Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing last week and later said Xi had warned him there would be war if the Philippines tried to search for oil in a disputed stretch of sea.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that their meeting was frank and friendly and that the discussion was largely about preventing conflict, not threatening it.

"The conversation was very frank. There was mutual respect, there was mutual trust," Cayetano told reporters.

"The context was not threatening each other, that we will go to war. The context is how do we stabilize the region and how do we prevent conflict."

He added: "I will not contradict the president's words. I am just telling you ... my interpretation: There was no bullying or pushing around — it was not a threat."

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also sought to make light of Duterte's comments, noting he and Xi had agreed to "strengthen communication" on important bilateral issues.

China was willing to work with the Philippines to handle disputes peacefully, she told reporters.

Duterte made no mention of the issue during an unusually news briefing on Monday before he left for Russia.

Duterte's critics have made much of his refusal to push China to comply with a ruling last year by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, at the end of a case brought by the Philippines against China, which was largely in favor of the Philippines. China has never recognized the case.

The court said the Philippines had a sovereign right to access offshore oil and gas fields in its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Duterte's rivals have likened his refusal to insist that China abide by the ruling as akin to surrendering sovereignty.

Senate minority leader, Frank Drilon, said the government "should not allow our country to be bullied and threatened," while former foreign minister Albert del Rosario said Manila should do joint maritime patrols with traditional ally the United States, an idea he said Duterte had jettisoned as part of his "full embrace of China."

Duterte chafes at what he considers Philippine subservience to the US and has sought to engage more with China, which has promised loans and investment that will be vital to his ambitious $180 billion infrastructure overhaul.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Saturday urged the government to file another international arbitration case over the reported Chinese threat, and also lodge a complaint with the United Nations.

Failure to do that would mean Duterte would be "selling us out," he said.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippines was "very clear that we are not giving up our claim of sovereignty and sovereign rights."

(Reporting by Karen Lema and Martin Petty in Manila and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Robert Birsel) </s> Former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario also says China 'has strongly declared that it is might that will trump what is right'

MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged the Philippine government on Saturday, May 20, to sue China for threatening war against the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute.

In a statement, Carpio said the Philippines should run to another arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to protect the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

UNCLOS is the so-called Constitution for the Oceans while the EEZ is the 200-nautical mile area from a coastal state's baselines, within which the coastal state has the exclusive rights to explore and exploit resources.

Carpio wrote, "As a nation that under its Constitution has renounced war as an instrument of national policy, the Philippines' recourse is to bring China's threat of war to another UNCLOS arbitral tribunal, to secure an order directing China to comply with the ruling of the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal that declared the Reed Bank part of Philippine EEZ."

"The Philippines can also ask for damages for every day of delay that the Philippines is prevented by China from exploiting Philippine EEZ," he added.

Carpio is one of the staunchest advocates of the Philippines' claim over the West Philippine Sea. (READ: Why Carpio wants China to read his e-book)

Sought for clarification, Carpio explained that the Philippines "can sue" China because the Asian giant "is not complying with the previous ruling" issued by another arbitral tribunal.

This tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled in July 2016 to invalidate China's expansive claim over the South China Sea, but China has refused to comply with this ruling.

Carpio made his remarks after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, May 19, said Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that China will go to war if the Philippines "forces the issue" of the arbitral ruling on the South China Sea.

Duterte quoted Xi as saying: "Well, we are friends. We do not want to quarrel with you. We would want to maintain the present warm relationship. But if you force the issue, we will go to war."

Reacting to China's threat, Carpio also said on Saturday that the Philippines can also run to the United Nations (UN) as another option.

Carpio said, "The Philippines can also bring China's threat to go to war against the Philippines before the United Nations General Assembly by sponsoring a resolution condemning China's threat of war against the Philippines and demanding that China comply with the ruling of the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal."

He pointed out that China has no veto power in the UN General Assembly.

He added that Duterte "cannot simply do nothing, or worse acquiesce to China's action, for inaction is the opposite of protecting Philippine EEZ."

"Acquiescence means the Philippines will lose forever its EEZ in the West Philippine Sea to China," Carpio said.

He added that China is the only country that "has threatened the Philippines with war over Philippine EEZ in the West Philippine Sea."

"China's threat of war against the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea reveals the aggressive design of China against the Philippines," the justice said.

"This extremely troubling development calls for all Filipinos to unite to defend the West Philippine Sea in accordance with the Constitution, international law, and UNCLOS," he added.

Former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario also weighed in on the issue, saying on Saturday: "Contrary to our position that right is might, China has strongly declared that it is might that will trump what is right."

Del Rosario said that "China – unless it stands to benefit – does not intend to respect the rule of law."

Malacañang, on the other hand, reacted to a reported statement by Carpio that Duterte effectively gave the "green light" to China's island building activities in the West Philippine Sea by not mentioning it in the Chairman's Statement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.

"With all due respect to the Senior Associate Justice, Chinese island building and military deployment activities on certain features in the West Philippine Sea have been ongoing for some years now," Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

"The disputes in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea are not the sum total of our relations with China, but we are cognizant of the warmer relationships we have in the region," Abella added. – Rappler.com </s> MANILA -- China must cease all provocations in the South China Sea before the Philippines will agree to bilateral talks, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay said here during a two-day media forum that began Monday.

An international tribunal at The Hague awarded a sweeping victory to Manila in July over its challenge to Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea, but China has refused to abide by the ruling.

The Philippines "will respect the decision, and we urge China also to respect the decision," Yasay said, signaling the Manila will not agree to ignore the ruling in order to hold talks with China.

He urged the establishment of confidence-building measures before any negotiations begin. "We would like to see, as long as we agree to continue talking, [that] nobody will take any provocative actions," he said.

Yasay was especially adamant that China refrain from reclamation work on the Scarborough Shoal in order for any bilateral discussion to occur. He said the U.S. also considers that a line that should not be crossed.

As part of trust-building efforts, the Philippines hopes China will lift its current blockade on Filipino fishermen operating in waters around the shoal, he said.

"It is important for us to give China that opportunity to save face," Yasay said of bilateral talks. He stressed that the best way to do this was by bolstering the countries ties with regard to economy, trade, tourism and other fields.

"Our dispute with China in respect to the South China Sea is a very small aspect of our relationship," Yasay said. He said the Philippines can still foster and promote its relations with China, which would greatly contribute to global peace and stability.

The Hague tribunal ruled that China had no legal basis to build islands in the South China Sea or to block Filipino fishermen from the waters. Beijing refuses to respect the decision and continues to bar fishing operations near the Scarborough Shoal.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office at the end of June, is focused on securing fishing rights for Filipinos in the waters. He hopes bilateral talks with China will help break the current stalemate.

He is laying the groundwork for negotiations, such as sending former President Fidel Ramos as a special envoy to Hong Kong. Duterte said last week that bilateral talks could happen "within the year." </s> Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (centre) walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Thursday (AP photo)

BEIJING — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his “separation” from the United States on Thursday, declaring that it had “lost” and he had realigned with China as the two agreed to resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks.

Duterte made his comments in China, where he is visiting with at least 200 businesspeople to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance as relations with longtime ally the United States deteriorate.

His trade secretary, Ramon Lopez, said $13.5 billion in deals would be signed

Duterte’s efforts to engage China, months after a tribunal ruling in the Hague over South China Sea disputes in favour of the Philippines, marks a reversal in foreign policy since the 71-year-old former mayor took office on June 30.

“America has lost now,” Duterte told Chinese and Philippine businesspeople at a forum in the Great Hall of the People, attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world — China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” he added.

“With that, in this venue, your honours, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States,” Duterte said to applause. “I have separated from them. So I will be dependent on you for all time. But do not worry. We will also help as you help us.”

China has pulled out all the stops to welcome Duterte, including a marching band complete with batton-twirling band master at his official welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People, which most leaders do not get.

President Xi Jinping, meeting Duterte earlier in the day, called the visit a “milestone” in ties.

Xi told Duterte that China and the Philippines were brothers and they could “appropriately handle disputes”, though he did not mention the South China Sea in remarks made in front of reporters.

“I hope we can follow the wishes of the people and use this visit as an opportunity to push China-Philippines relations back on a friendly footing and fully improve things,” Xi said.

Following their meeting, during which Duterte said relations with China had entered a new “springtime”, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the South China Sea issue was not the sum total of relations.

“The two sides agreed that they will do what they agreed five years ago, that is to pursue bilateral dialogue and consultation in seeking a proper settlement of the South China Sea issue,” Liu said.

China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

In 2012, China seized the disputed Scarborough Shoal and denied Philippine fishermen access to its fishing grounds.

Liu said the shoal was not mentioned and he did not answer a question about whether Philippine fishermen would be allowed there. He said both countries had agreed on coastguard and fisheries cooperation, but did not give details.

Duterte’s tone towards Beijing is in contrast to the language he has used against the United States, after being infuriated by US criticism of his bloody war on drugs.

He has called US President Barack Obama a “son of a bitch” and told him to “go to hell” while alluding to severing ties with the old colonial power.

On Wednesday, to the cheers of hundreds of Filipinos in Beijing, Duterte said Philippine foreign policy was veering towards China.

“I will not go to America anymore. We will just be insulted there,” Duterte said. “So time to say goodbye my friend.”

The same day, about 1,000 anti-US protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Manila calling for the removal of US troops from the southern island of Mindanao.

Duterte on Wednesday said the South China Sea arbitration case would “take the back seat” during talks, and that he would wait for the Chinese to bring up the issue rather than doing so himself.

Xi said issues that could not be immediately resolved should be set aside, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

China has welcomed the Philippines approaches, even as Duterte has vowed not to surrender any sovereignty to Beijing, which views the South China Sea Hague ruling as null and void.

China has also expressed support for his drug war, which has raised concern in Western capitals about extrajudicial killing.

Duterte’s overtures to China have been accompanied by signs of improving business ties with the world’s second largest economy.

China’s Liu said Beijing will restore Philippine agricultural exports to China and provide financing for Philippine infrastructure. </s> Beijing: China today sidestepped claims by Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte that it had threatened to go to war over the disputed South China Sea.

Duterte, who met with Chinese president Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing last week, said on Friday the leaders had raised conflict as an option to resolving their competing claims to the waters.

"I really said it to their face. That is ours and we intend to drill oil there," said Duterte, who claimed he made the comments public in response to domestic criticism he was being too weak with China over the row.

"And they told me: 'Well, we're friends. We do not want to quarrel with you. We want to maintain the present warm relationship. But if you force the issue we'll go to war.'"

China's government today did not directly comment on Duterte's version of the leaders' conversation, but said it would "work with the Philippines to peacefully resolve disputes through friendly consultation".

China sought to "deepen cooperation in other fields so bilateral relations can move forward in a sound steady way and also contribute to regional peace stability," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

The rival claims to the South China Sea, which is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits, have for decades made it one of Asia's potential military flashpoints.

China claims most of the sea, a key waterway for global shipping, and has reclaimed disputed reefs and installed military facilities on them.

Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

An international tribunal ruled in July last year that China's claims to most of the sea were without legal basis, in a case filed by the Philippines under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino.

But China vowed to ignore the ruling and warned the Philippines against trying to use the verdict as leverage.

Duterte, who began his six-year term in June last year, agreed to take a soft stance with China, claiming that if he did it might lead to war.

Duterte has also sought closer ties with China to win billions of dollars of Chinese investments and loans, while loosening the Philippines' long-standing alliance with the US. </s> DAVAO (Sputnik) — If the Philippines engaged in a military conflict with China over the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, it would be a massacre, the Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte said in his interview with Russian media.

"Do you expect me to fight China in a war? Do I have the cruise missiles for hitting them?" he said, adding that if the conflict happens, "it’s going to be a massacre."

In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled upon the claim of the Philippines that China has no legal grounds for territorial claims in the South China Sea. China refused to recognize the court’s decision. </s> ASEAN, China to adopt communications protocol to ease tensions at sea

MANILA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian countries and China will establish hotlines and adopt communications protocols to avoid potential naval clashes in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, a Philippines foreign ministry official said on Friday.

The protocols will be signed in Laos next week, when heads of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet with leaders from other regional powers - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States - for a three day summit.

The mechanism, called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), would be new for both ASEAN and China, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Helen de la Vega told a news conference.

"It's one way of de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea," she said, adding that hotlines between China and the ASEAN governments would be established.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion sea-borne trade passes annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on parts of the sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.

"This is very important because any accident that can lead to a major confrontation will be avoided if our navies and coast guards are communicating with each other," a senior Philippines navy commander told Reuters.

He said there had been instances in the past when Chinese vessels had not responded to radio and signal communications when they had been encountered by a Philippine Navy ship.

Regardless of this agreement, the United States, Japan and Australia are expected to call on China to respect and comply with the ruling of the arbitration court in The Hague in July.

The court infuriated Beijing by ruling that China had no historical title over the South China Sea and it had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights.

The Philippines new President Rodrigo Duterte said he will raising the arbitral ruling but will champion other issues, like ridding Southeast Asia of narcotics, clamping down on human trafficking and protection for migrant workers.

Duterte is holding nine bilateral talks, including with U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday China was open to a meeting with Duterte during the summit in Laos, but as of yet no meetings had been scheduled with Chinese Premier Li Kequiang or U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. </s> The Philippines’ top diplomat has sought to downplay President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that Chinese President Xi Jinping told him China would go to war with Manila if it insists on drilling for oil in the disputed South China Sea, saying they were not threatening each other but talking about preventing conflict.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the talks were frank and friendly, with no threats or bullying, but would not disclose more details of the Beijing meeting Duterte and Xi, adding that they had the kind of relationship in which they could openly discuss preventing maritime conflict.

The notoriously outspoken Duterte said during a televised speech on Friday that Xi warned him there would be war if he tried to explore for oil in a stretch of the sea that both countries claim. China has yet to respond to Duterte revealing contents of the meeting.

“The conversation was very frank. There was mutual respect, there was mutual trust,” Cayetano told reporters.

“The context was not threatening each other, that we will go to war. The context is how do we stabilize the region and how do we prevent conflict.”

The maverick Duterte has faced criticism at home for refusing to push China to comply with an award last year by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which ruled largely in favor of the Philippines.

It also said the Philippines had a sovereign right to access offshore oil and gas fields in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), including the Reed Bank.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to sovereignty in the South China Sea, a vital conduit for trade and a hotbed of territorial squabbling that has stoked nationalist fervor in some countries. “I will not contradict the president’s words. I am just telling you…my interpretation: there was no bullying or pushing around, it was not a threat,” Cayetano added. “It was more the threat of conflict will always be there if we don’t have dialogue.”

A Philippine Supreme Court judge on Saturday urged the government to file another international arbitration case over the alleged Chinese threat, and also lodge a complaint with the United Nations.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said failure to do that would mean Duterte would be “selling us out” and forfeiting sovereignty to secure Chinese loans and investments needed for his ambitious $180 billion infrastructure program.

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella on Monday said the Philippines was “very clear that we are not giving up our claim of sovereignty and sovereign rights.”

Duterte was to fly to Russia on Monday to meet his hero, seek arms and steer his nation’s foreign policy course further away from longtime ally the United States.

The five-day trip will cement a dramatic improvement in ties between the two nations since Duterte came to power last year and began unraveling the Philippines’ decades-long alliance with the United States, which he accuses of hypocrisy and bullying.

Duterte will on Thursday meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has described as his “favorite hero” and proclaimed a personal bond because of mutual passions such as guns and hunting.

Duterte said Friday one of the top priorities of his trip was to secure Russian precision-guided bombs to use on Islamic militants in the southern Philippines.

“If they can spare us with the precision guided (bombs),” Duterte said when discussing the purpose of his trip.

“We have so many smart bombs but not as accurate.”

Duterte’s seeking of weapons from Russia comes as he dials down cooperation with the United States, the Philippines’ former colonial ruler that has for decades been its most important military ally and protector.

He has scaled down the number and scope of annual military exercises with the U.S., barred Filipino forces from joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, and called for the withdrawal of American troops from the Philippines.

The shift occurred as China has become more assertive in challenging U.S. might in the region by expanding its presence in the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety.

Despite China’s expansionism extending into areas of the sea claimed by the Philippines, Duterte has been determined to pivot his nation’s foreign policy away from the United States in favor of Beijing and Moscow.

This has partly been due to China and Russia supporting or at least not criticizing his controversial war on drugs, which has left thousands of people dead and led to warnings by rights groups that Duterte may be orchestrating a crime against humanity.

Duterte has railed against the United States, particularly when Barack Obama was president, for criticizing the drug war.

On a state visit to China last year, Duterte announced the Philippines’ “separation” from the United States.

“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world — China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” he said in Beijing.

Duterte, who describes himself as a socialist, and Putin first met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru last November.

“Historically, I have been identified with the Western world. It was good until it lasted. And of late, I see a lot of these Western nations bullying small nations,” Duterte told Putin then.

Since then, two Russian Navy flotillas have visited Manila.

“The Russians are with me, I shall not be afraid,” Duterte said while touring the Russian Navy’s guided missile cruiser Varyag during a port visit to Manila last month.

The Philippines and Russia established diplomatic ties 41 years ago but, until Duterte took office, relations remained relatively low key.

This was partly due to the Philippines’ alliance with the United States.

Philippine-Russian trade last year totaled just $226 million, according to government data. Philippine-U.S. trade was worth more than $18 billion last year.

Relations remain at the “nascent stage”, but this will change, assistant Philippine foreign secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters in a briefing on Duterte’s trip to Russia.

“We consider this visit as a landmark that will send a strong message of the Philippines’ commitment to seek new partnerships and strengthen relations with non-traditional partners,” she said.

Duterte visiting Moscow will be a “propaganda victory for Putin and a soft-power coup for Russia,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a foreign policy analyst in Manila.

“It will be their way of poking the eye of America.” </s> President Rodrigo Duterte says the Philippines will not 'waver in our commitment to defend our interests in the West Philippine Sea'

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to defend the West Philippine Sea as he delivered his 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 23.

In his SONA 2018, Duterte said the Philippines' "reenergized relations with China" have led to "an unprecedented level of cooperation" in fighting illegal drugs.

"Our shared intelligence led to the discovery and dismantling of the clandestine shabu laboratories and the arrest of Chinese chemists with the Dragon organization called Wu Syndicate," Duterte said.

"Our improved relationship with China, however, does not mean that we will waver in our commitment to defend our interests in the West Philippine Sea," the President added.

Duterte also stressed that the Philippines will continue pursuing an "independent foreign policy" – which critics said is independent only from the US but subservient to China.

Duterte delivered this speech before an audience that included Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua.

Nearly two weeks before Duterte's SONA, the Philippines marked the second anniversary of its legal victory against China over the South China Sea, parts of which the Philippines claims as the West Philippine Sea.

Duterte downplays this ruling, however, as Manila seeks economic gains from Beijing.

A recent Social Weather Stations survey said 4 out of 5 Filipinos said it was wrong for the Duterte administration to do nothing about China's militarization of the West Philippine Sea. – Rappler.com
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he would not press on for China to abide by the South China Sea ruling but he might do so in the future.