Duterte open to joint sea exploration with China

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he is open to having joint oil exploration with China in disputed maritime territories, even as he reiterated that he would eventually bring up with Beijing the ruling of the Hague-based tribunal invalidating its claim over large swaths of the South China Sea.

"Kung gusto ninyo, let's just develop what's the oil there, hati-hati nalang tayo. Anuhin ko naman iyang dagat kung walang... What will I do with the Scarborough Shoal? Swim there everyday? For what? To send my soldiers there to die? Nakalutang lahat? Susmaryosep. I will just have to start with the domestic problems," Duterte said.

Duterte, in a visit to China earlier this year, said it was not yet the right time to raise the possibility of joint energy exploration between the two countries.

During that trip, Duterte said he already told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he will raise the issue of the tribunal ruling again.

"'There will be a day,' sinabi ko kay Xi Jinping, 'that we will have to take this up, but not now because I am here as a visitor.' And 'yung sabi I cannot talk about it kasi labas na tayo, bisita lang ako dito. But I will bring this up. Alam na niya, pati ang ambassador dito iyong Chinese. I will bring this up, someday, but it will be during my time, that I have this arbitral award, so I have to push it," he added.

Duterte's latest pronouncement comes after he said that he would "set aside" the arbitral ruling even as China has allegedly installed weapons system in the Johnson Reef.

"In the play of politics now, I will set aside the arbitral ruling," Duterte said during an early morning news conference in Davao City last Saturday.

"I will not impose anything on China. Why? Because the politics here in Southeast Asia is changing. Like us now, I will separate or I will demand that [US forces] go out of my country," he added.

Last week, a US think tank released satellite images of what looks like a weapons system, anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, set up by China within the disputed territory..

The satellite image showed what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said appears to be anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) on the artificial island Johnson Reef in the South China Sea in this image released on December 13, 2016. —JST, GMA News