President Duterte open to bilateral talks with China

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jinhua pays a courtesy call on President Rodrigo R. Duterte at Malacañang Palace on July 7, 2016. (Presidential Photographers’ Division)

MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte is open to holding bilateral talks with China after the historic decision by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague that the disputed West Philippine Sea (WPS) belongs to the Philippines.

“Sabi niya (President), let’s see we will start the bilateral talks and we’re starting from a better position,” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno told reporters on Thursday.

Diokno said the issue was discussed during a Cabinet meeting in Malacanang on Tuesday night after the Netherland-based tribunal released its decision on the WPS.

He noted that enforcing the decision will be the difficult part.

“Ang mahirap dyan sa decision ay enforceability, how do you enforce that? (What’s difficult with that decision is enforceability, how do you enforce that?),” he added.

When asked about President Duterte’s reaction to WPS ruling, the budget chief said “let’s be magnanimous in victory.”