Duterte to raise arbitral ruling with Xi in August meeting

President Rodrigo Duterte is set to raise with China’s President Xi Jinping this month the Philippines’ landmark victory against Beijing’s expansive claim to the South China Sea.

Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed this development at a news conference in Malacañang on Tuesday.

“There will be a time when I will invoke that arbitral ruling. This is the time that’s why I’m going there,” Panelo quoted Duterte as saying, adding the President wants to raise the ruling given that he only has three years left in his term.

Panelo also said Duterte will raise the boat sinking incident at Recto Bank on June 9 in order to find a resolution to the matter. Duterte was also "interested" in pushing for the 60-40 sharing arrangement in the proposed joint oil exploration in the South China Sea.

Duterte will embark on his fifth trip to China as president later this month.

The Philippines had filed a diplomatic protest with China and said that proper sanctions must be imposed against the Chinese crew who allegedly abandoned the 22 Filipino fishermen until a Vietnamese fishing vessel rescued them.

The United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2016 handed a sweeping victory for the Philippines on the lawsuit it filed against China over their South China Sea disputes during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.

The tribunal invalidated China's historical claims to nearly the entire South China Sea and clarified Manila's maritime entitlements.

It also declared that Beijing violated the rights of Filipinos, who were blocked by Chinese Coast Guard from fishing in the Scarborough Shoal, which is well within Manila's exclusive economic zone, following a standoff in 2012.

Beijing does not recognize the ruling which Duterte temporarily set aside in pursuit of warmer relations with the Asian powerhouse. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News