China looking forward to bilateral talks with PHL under Duterte admin, envoy says

China is looking forward to bilateral discussions with the Philippines over overlapping claims in the South China Sea, Ambassador Zhao Jianhua told reporters on Wednesday.

Zhao made the remark days after an audience with incoming president Rodrigo Duterte.

“Well, we’re glad that the president elect (Duterter) has already opened the option for direct bilateral negotiation talks, and we welcome that,” Jianhua said.

“It has always been China’s policy to settle our dispute and differences through bilateral channels,” he added.

However, Duterte said that he might have to first wait for the outcome of other efforts undertaken by the current administration.

“Well, he (Duterte) said publicly that maybe we have to wait for two years. But let me quote what chairman Mao [Tse-tung] says: ‘10,000 years are too long, seize the moment, seize the hour’. I would say, two years are too long, seize the moment, seize the hour,” Jianhua said.

The Philippines under President Benigno Aquino III has filed a case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

The country questioned China's excessive claims over most of the territories in the South China Sea and its unilateral nine-dash-line theory.

China's claims, the Philippines said, violate the Philippines exclusive economic zone provided for under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed by member-states including both China and the Philippines.

China had refused to participate in the proceedings of the arbitration case and has repeatedly maintained that the issue should be resolved through bilateral talks.

“I’m confident that the relationship will get better,” Jianhua said when asked on where he thinks the relationship between the China and the Philippines is going under the Duterte administration.

The PCA is expected to issue its ruling on the case  anytime soon.

Jianhua said he and Duterte did not discuss the possible consequences of the impending UN court’s ruling, but shared the same view that the issue of territorial dispute must be handled “properly”.

“We didn’t discuss that issue in details but I think we have a shared agreement that the issue of South China Sea needs to be properly handled,” Jianhua said.

Asked to elaborate on how the dispute can be “properly handled”, Jianhua said: “One [it should be] peaceful. Second, through dialogue. No confrontation. Dialogue is always better than confrontation”.

China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea, while the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam have claims to parts of the disputed waters, which is rich in mineral and marine resources. —NB, GMA News