Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said China threatened to go to war after he asserted the Southeast Asian nation’s sovereignty over disputed territory.
In an unspecified meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Duterte said he would drill for oil in the South China Sea, citing an international arbitration tribunal ruling upholding the Philippines’ claim.
That prompted a retort from Xi, Duterte said.
Photo: AFP
“Well, if you force this, we’ll be forced to tell you the truth. We will go to war. We will fight you,” Duterte on Friday quoted Xi as saying.
Duterte did not say when and where the conversation took place.
Calls and an e-mail seeking comment from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs outside of regular office hours were not immediately answered.
Since Duterte took office in June last year, the tough-talking 72-year-old leader had repaired fractured ties with China, touting the economic benefits including US$24 billion of loans and investment.
China’s efforts to assert its dominance over the South China Sea, where more than US$5 trillion in annual trade is ferried, have in the past angered Southeast Asian nations with competing claims, such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
The Philippines won a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, in last July last year that rejected China’s assertion to the territory.
China has said the tribunal has no jurisdiction over sovereignty disputes.
China’s claim is “far away,” Duterte said in the southern Philippine city of Davao, recalling what he told Xi.
“It’s almost alien to us to hear those words because we were never under Chinese jurisdiction,” he said.
Separately, officials from the two countries agreed to discuss “mutually acceptable approaches” to South China Sea issues during a bilateral consultation in the Chinese city of Guiyang on Friday, according to a joint statement released by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.
Handling incidents and disputes in an appropriate manner is important, they said.
The next discussion is to be held in the Philippines in the second half of the year.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS