Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday said he trusted China would not build anything on a disputed South China Sea shoal because he was given its “word of honor” and Beijing would not want to jeopardize a new friendship.
Duterte was commenting amid a furor in the Philippines stemming from remarks last week by the mayor in charge of China-controlled disputed islands and reefs, who said preparatory work was being planned to build several monitoring stations, including on the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), which is also claimed by Taiwan.
“I was informed that they are not going to do anything at Panatag out of respect for our friendship,” he told a news conference early yesterday, referring to the shoal by its local name.
“‘We will build nothing there’ — that was the assurance given by the Chinese government,” he said. “They are not going to build anything ... because they do not want to jeopardize our friendship.”
He said China “has a word of honor,” but he did not say when he received this assurance.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) on Wednesday said the reports about a monitoring station were “mistaken” and “not true.”
China’s activities in the South China Sea have been closely watched by the Philippines, which has seen Beijing build and arm artificial islands in its 200 nautical mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zone.
The Scarborough Shoal is symbolic of the Philippines’ long struggle to assert itself against China’s maritime ambitions. Located 199.5km off the Philippine coast, the rocky outcrop was a rich fishing ground for Filipinos until China’s coastguard blockaded the area in 2012.
In a barb aimed at the US, Duterte said countries should avoid escalating tensions, because missteps could be catastrophic.
“Why do you have to go there and look for friction,” he said. “Friction causes an explosion ... then you can have war.”
“It’s a very important word for all of us: Miscalculation,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in