MALACAÑANG on Friday brushed aside renewed calls in China for the Philippines to abandon the arbitration ruling in its favor, even as President Duterte reiterated that any bilateral negotiations will not go beyond “the four corners” of the ruling.
Palace Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella said the new statements, published in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, are mere internal propaganda targeted at their own members and do not reflect the Chinese foreign policy.
“That’s their local paper. Perhaps, it’s better if we understand that they have statements meant for people outside and those meant for within. That statement, which you’re referring to, is meant for those within,” Abella said in a news conference in Malacañang.
The People’s Daily reiterated China’s earlier reported stand against any bilateral negotiations until the Philippines abandons the favorable ruling issued by the United Nations’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated China’s “nine-dash line” claim.
But Mr. Duterte himself had reiterated any bilateral negotiations with China will have to take into account the arbitration ruling in favor of the Philippines’s economic rights over the disputed territories.
President Duterte, however, said he would not raise yet the issue regarding the bilateral talks during the Asean Leaders’ Summit he would attend next month in Lao PDR.
“There are critical issues, but it is not the proper time to be ranting, raising hell or whatever. We are better off just biding our time. But I will wait for the bilateral talks. When that would be, I really do not know,” Mr. Duterte said in a press conference on Thursday evening.
“Then, I’ll put squarely the things that we have. We will be talking about the arbitral judgment, and maybe we cannot go out of discussion within the four corners of this paper. But that has to wait. Because if I act hostile now, then they might just decide not to sit in front of you and talk,” he added.
President Duterte said he would make a goodwill visit to China to express his willingness to negotiate issues regarding the West Philippine Sea, and that the Philippines adopts a “friendly” attitude toward China to avoid war, which is “not an option.”